., since the utilities you listed are lienable in your locale, I would pay them myself and put in the lease that landlord pays first $X of water bill, any usage above that is billed to the tenant.

Larger properties (~30 units+) are evaluated based on current usage and potential future usage.David, I hope this clarifies our process of selecting the various classes of properties.

Every time the water and gas accounts are started on a new acquisition where the copper plumbing was stolen, I still get a minimum bill for zero usage (after subtracting the customary one time account start up charges).

The city doesn’t require us to have two water meters but we’d like to track it some way so we can charge tenants based on their usage if possible instead of a50/50 split. 

Or are the current bills more likely to be a combination of the prior leaks and just high tenant usage?

I find that inappropriate.

We have individual meters on each house to track the water usage and make sure there aren't any leaks.Water and trash are included in the rent. 

I was taught to pay water bc if not paid it can be a lien on the property and water usage can tell you a lot about what's going on. 

I have also had some big repairs like electric panel upgrades to accommodate the higher number and usage of electrical devices.

You likely need to limit hours of usage and perhaps have specified quiet hours so everyone can sleep.