All Forum Posts by: Samuel Lindgren

@Samuel Lindgren a lot of landlords will implement a rubs type system. Say each unit has 2 beds 1 bath you could split the water 50/50 and so on. Otherwise you can take the average water bill and include that amount on top of your anticipated rent and advertise that water is included in the rent up to that predetermined amount.

Thanks Daniel - I had to look up recoupment structures and billing methodologies (RUBS) system, but that looks like a good option too. If I do pay the bill upfront, and then charge the tenants based on my RUBS system, are there regulations that would prevent me from allocating cased on the number of people in each unit rather than the number of bedrooms in each unit? I'd think that if you allocated based on the number of residents in each unit that might get you a bit closer than the number of rooms.

1 Vote

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Originally posted by @Matt Olson:

@Samuel Lindgren your best bet would be to bake the averages into the rent and then advertise owner covers water. It’s too messy to split water especially when there is usually one hot water heater for both units.

Thanks for the advice Matt. I do have two water heaters in the house. Would that change your answer? If not, how would I go about calculating the average monthly amount my future tenants will use? When I called the city to ask what the average water bill was for this property, they didn't know because it was not occupied over that last few months. They did say that each adult usually uses 2-3 units of water per month (one unit is 100 cubic feet, or about 748 gallons), and each kids uses 1-2 units per month as well. Would it make sense for me to estimate their usage by using a formula like the one below?

[Average monthly water cost for tenants = $3.68($/unit)*3(units/adult)*2(number of adults)]) + half the monthly fixed costs (ie the $0.81 clean water testing fee, $5.50-$44 fixed water charge, $6.8-54.4 fixed sewer charge depending on meter size)]

I just want to make sure I do a fairly good job of estimating, and that I'm not leaving out any other numbers if I'm just going to tack on an estimate for water to the monthly rent. Do you have any other tips on how estimate the average monthly water cost?

0 Votes

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Hi all - I'm closing on my first house hack soon, and had a question about splitting water. My plumber mentioned that a lot of landlords he's seen don't actually split the water since checking the meter monthly is a bit of a hassle if you don't live there.

He said the city of Minneapolis won't provide separate meters themselves, but that you can split it yourself. He estimated that it would cost about $1,500 to do the work to split the water and add a submeter to measure tenant water usage.

Should I add the submeter while the plumber is already replacing a corroded pipe, and just get it over with, or would it make sense to use an alternative method of splitting the water?

I've read that some landlords do a 50:50 split, or a split based on the number of people living in each unit.

Another method I saw on bigger pockets was to ask the utility company for last year's average monthly cost, and charge the tenant half of that monthly, and add a clause saying if their actual use exceeds the historical average, they'll be charged for the difference.

For context, I'm hoping to scale up later on, so I won't be living in this property for more than 1-2 years. Thanks in advance for any advice on this!

0 Votes

Minneapolis, Minnesota

All Forum Posts by: Samuel Lindgren

Samuel Lindgren has started 3 posts and replied 13 times.

Post: Should I add a submeter to a house hacked duplex in Minneapolis?

Post: Should I add a submeter to a house hacked duplex in Minneapolis?

Post: Should I add a submeter to a house hacked duplex in Minneapolis?