This has been a common practice for many homes lately. 

A civil law practice rather than a real estate practice is probably more suited to the lawsuit you are contemplating.  

@Zach Schwarzmiller   Good luck with it were is it Yakima Walla Walla are you going to relocate and get out of the rain?

A more common and practical approach would be to calculate your return on equity. 

Holidays are slow for apartments but I often move relocating military into houses in Dec/Jan.   

I work during the day, so I will only have the weekends and evenings to practice real estate.

This person will be more than willing to answer your questions.Now if the person answers your question, go back to the market and actually PRACTICE WHAT THEY HAVE PREACHED.

If not then having a sub-meter company is an option for billing tenants and collection.With  a 2 unit all of that may not be practical.

I recently relocated to Northwest Arkansas to begin work as a business management analyst.

And actually the business that I bought the services from, (zurixx) got shut down by the FTC for fraudulent practices so that alone is enough evidence to let you know that this is a $30 service with a $70k pricetag.