All Forum Posts by: Daria B.

Short of cutting the drywall to remove the fixtures, can anything be done to change the color while still attached to the wall? I want to do white from the tan current color.

These are the toilet paper holder, towel rack, and soap dish fixtures - I think porcelain - old style material.

I would attach a photo but I don’t see any links to do so.

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Originally posted by @Shawn Clark:

Originally posted by @Keenan Rusk:

Hi fellow BP members,

I'm looking at a 2-unit property in Baltimore City for a potential house hack.

In researching market rents in the area, I've come across few posts about utilities in the city. One of my concerns is the water bill. The numbers work if the tenant pays water, otherwise the property won't be an option for me. What I've gathered so far from other posts on BP is the following:

-Property owners are ultimately responsible for ensuring the water bills are paid

-A tenant who is in default of the water bill for >90 days can result in a lien being placed on the property and unless stated explicitly in the lease, they cannot be evicted for nonpayment

-These consequences don't apply to sewer, gas, and electric bills

For landlords and property managers, I have a few questions:

1.How are you ensuring tenant compliance with water bills in multifamily homes, aside from proper screening? Can water and the other utilities be separately metered?

2. If you pass this responsibility to the tenant, do you "inflate" the rent cost and pay water bill yourself or stipulate water as a deliverable with rent each month and nonpayment as a condition for eviction? Given that Baltimore City water bills are increasing each year, it seems fairly easy to list above market rates for rent.

Thanks,

Keenan

The water bill can become rent, and I have it in the lease that way.

I've done it several ways, depending on the tenant, but none of mine are multi-family.

1) Tenant pays the bill directly, but it remains in my name. I just give them a copy to pay from.

2) I pay and the tenant reimburses me. The water bill never leaves the landlord's name anyway, so this is the most common method.

3) The rent is increased and water is included. But the problem with that is that they have no incentive to keep the water usage down and you can get some crazy water bills sometimes.

Hope that helps.

I opted for #1, keep the bill in my name only and don’t add on tenants and forward the bill to them. The lease already has they are responsible for all utilities.

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Keenan Rusk:

@Daria B. I took J.T. 's suggestion and added my tenants' names to the water account. I just had to email DPW and they receive the bill in the mail. I have an online account and et up alerts when the bill goes unpaid or when the water consumption deviates significantly from average use. This really came in handy when it came time to repair a toilet valve leak and request a billing adjustment. They have been pretty reliable tenants, so I haven't had any issues so far.

Thank you for your input. When I posted this I was trying to get ahead of the looming issue. Paying water directly is new to the community as it was previously handled by the HOA.

I found out from another investor in the same community how he is handling his tenants. He has the bill come to him and has a lease clause letting the tenant know they are responsible for water and forwards to them for recoupment. No different than electric utility. This is the county and there is no online access at the moment. We have to rely on a bill for usage.

Having the tenants name added is just too cumbersome and I found out ultimately as the owner I am responsible because they will not allow a tenant water account. I would have to email every turnover, that takes 15 days to process, to have names switched. Last tenants stayed just one year and unfortunately I don’t know if the next will be a year or more. Unlike BGE, the electric is in the tenants own account.

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Originally posted by @Alex Olson:

@Daria B. Is it seperately metered? If so, yes they pay water. If not, you can bill back a portion of the water or all of the water. I would take the average for the year and divide it by rooms or people or unit. Then, add that as part of their lease amount that they pay XXXXX amount in water per month. Be reasonable though. No one likes a bad landlord!

It is a single home and yes it is metered. They have the whole house.

1 Vote

Baltimore, Maryland

Originally posted by @J.T. Littlejohn:

@Keenan Rusk Baltimore City Water allows (and actually encourages) that you add the tenants name using the "in care of" titling feature to the water bill account. This has helped me tremendously by giving the tenant some skin in the game even though it is for the most part only in theory. You will still have liability for the bill getting paid but it does have an "ownership" effect on the tenant. You can have the bill mailed directly to the property while you monitor the bill online.

This post is 2yr old but I wanted to know how this has worked for you.

I recently am now faced with adding tenants to my account that was otherwise taken care of by the HOA.

This is going to be a nightmare I can see that already. Calling each time there is tenant turnover and monitoring if they paid the bill since the onus is on me and can affect my credit (ie collections if they don’t pay affects my credit).

They really should have a better process than this. BGE at least has separate tenant accounts and it reverts to my account when vacant.

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Before I call the water department I would like to hear from other investors who have their tenants paying the water bill.

Currently, I have the tenants paying BGE (electric on their own account) that has a revert account process so when they leave it reverts back to me and my account.

How does water work, do they have something similar?

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Baltimore, Maryland

@Jerryll Noorden I agree. And the people being harassed by this mailing have no recourse in this day and age. Too many agencies say they give protection against it but do little if nothing to stop it. I understand that doing a mailing in the interest of possibly acquiring property but to harass people over it is ridiculous. More over the money they waste as well.

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All Forum Posts by: Daria B.

Daria B. has started 149 posts and replied 1905 times.

Post: Old bathroom fixtures

Post: Old bathroom fixtures

Post: PMs servicing Halethorpe, Catonsville, Arbutus area

Post: Old bathroom fixtures

Post: Baltimore City - Water Bill

Post: Baltimore City - Water Bill

Post: Water Bill and tenant payments

Post: Baltimore City - Water Bill

Post: Water Bill and tenant payments

Post: Something you need to consider sending 1 list multiple mailers