There are still some issues to think about when sub metering.  1) you still need to get the tenants to pay a bill that they will always say they did not use that much. 2) you have to read the meters every month. 3) if someone chooses not to pay you do not have the right to shut their power off. ( this one may be different by location.)  4) in this property two of the units share circuits so you can not get an accurate measurement of power consumption. 5) to sub meter you will have the same or close to the same cost as seprate metering will cost because you will need to have a panel for each unit and a product called emon demon which can cost more then a residential meter panel and if you sub meter with a meter panel you might as well just allow the power company supply the tenants with meters.

We also provide the tenant with an electronic copy of the utility bill so they can monitor their resource consumption.3) Every three months we reconcile the amount paid into the fund against the actual amount paid for utilities & services.  

Now, if your plan were to live in half the building (the smaller unit) and use the larger unit as a mortgage helper, you would look at things through a different lens.I am a big proponent of improving the energy efficiency of older buildings, but am not found of carrying the utilities - I like everyone to be responsible for their own resource consumption.  

My experience (in buying several severely mismanaged properties) is that the owners will likely have equally mismanaged tax records (eg; all investment activities lumped together, etc.).My due diligence for an area that I'm "blind" to (have never worked in before) would roughly be as follows:-Speak w/ local realtors & property managers to determine appropriate market rent for all units-Get copies of all leases to verify current rent roll-Speak w/ my insurance agent, get appropriate quotes-For any utilities I'll be responsible for, find out local market rate for electricy/gas/water & sewer and use what I know to be "average" consumption for those services-Use estimates I know are sound for maintenance/capex reserves, etc.

Also it gives them a feeling that they are in control if how much their rent raise is, since it it based on consumption of water by them.

Most professionals (docs, lawyers, etc) are in the high-consumption UAW (under-accumulators of wealth) camp with no thought  to what is kept.  

I mean, it's only a SFH, and water consumption isn't that great.

There is a wealth of information ready for consumption in this community.

I'm now committed to minimizing my consumption and maximizing my savings to achieve independence.  

Ken: A little weed doesn't hurt much if it was for self consumption and not distribution.