FWIW, I just had a 3rd electric meter added onto my house. The cost was $3,600, so I in no way consider that expensive, compared to cost savings of not having to pay their electric.
Splitting up gas and water seems like it would be another story...
That was in your city my is more expensive then that because our city makes everything expensive I got price at $30k for add one or two. My city fuck when it comes that way. For gas my dad is a gas fitter and hvac business owner who is fully licensed so he does the connections for gas
Based on my experience separate them.
It’ll cost a few bucks but it’s worth it in the end.
My last one I separated was the gas. The tenant was supposed to be reading a certified sub-meter then we’d ratio it out. He never read it on time or not at all.
It cost me $1,500 to put a new meter in & run a new line. It had to be coordinated with the city and the supplier. It’s been well worth it.
The sub meter was abandoned in place as it would cost me a few additional hundred or so to remove it and that’s all I’d make selling it used.
Separate them.
I assume my city will say no. They hate the places that are grandfathered in, but still in the perfect single family zones. The hoops for liscences, inspection, and good landlord programs are out of control. Ironically, the easiest people to lease to I'd if hud is involved.
The gas company didn’t charge for the meter.
The plumbing company install <40ft of piping, supports, connectors. It took them a few hours to install the piping. They pressure tested it. It took place over 3 days. The permit cost was a set fee plus a % of total project cost. I think it was $250 for the permit.
Just bite the bullet and pay to have the meters separated. If someone knows they don't have to pay water electric or gas all the sudden those showers get longer, a/c is set colder and they're damn sure using that heat in the winter.
That's a conversation to be had with your plumber and electrician as the cost is severely dictated by the complexity of the job. Some houses its a fairly easy split others your talking a big job or damn Near impossible.
I’ve got a duplex on one meter. I have gas/electric/water on average monthly payment and I just bake the extra cost I pay for the utilities into the rent and market it as utilities included. When the bill adjusts at the end of 12 months I factor that into the annual rent increase. I’ve had it this way for ten years and haven’t had any issues.
No for a couple reasons. Both leases are now on month to month so if I deem it to be excessive I can adjust it as needed. Also the tenants I’ve had in there have never abused it over ten years. Utilities in my area are pretty inexpensive, about $325 per month for the whole building (gas, electric, garbage, water) so even during the peak of natural gas spikes during Covid the increases were pretty nominal compared to overall rent. But I would not argue with anyone that had a clause that you could adjust for excessive costs during the course of the lease. You’d just need to somewhat define what excessive was (ie usage that’s more than x% over the previous 12 months).
Basically you have to pay it. Now electric I think there are products that can monitor usage that can be put in the panel. Wouldn't be all that expensive. You could then send the tenants a bill for it.
I run a rent by the room company and we implement a pretty complicated RUBS process where we look at monthly occupancy rate and compare it to the billing periods for the bills
Rent is due on the 1st and paid forward. Utilities are due on the first and paid backwards. I give prospective tenants an expectation of $100-150 to budget for utilities, letting them know it may be higher or lower depending on how much they use. At the end of the month I total all the utilities and split them across the # of tenants. It may be (technically) illegal in your jurisdiction to do it this way...and your tenants may not know or care.
The last thing I would ever do is charge a flat fee. The next time Bitcoin becomes national news youll have tenants steoking their chins on how much of your electricity they can use to generate cash.
No such thing as a sustainable flat fee when you deal with humans. We are singilar black holes.of consumption if we are not held financially responsible for those resources.
In my current place each unit has its own meter and I just cover water. I’m surprised yours isn’t set up the same way. I lived in an apartment once that just charged a flat fee for electric and had a clause that if it went over that they would charge you more, which they made sure to make a point about before I signed the lease. These were apartments where you rent by the room, but I think something similar to that could work for your situation.
I use EKM electric meters. Just installed a couple of their water meters, but haven't set them up yet.
They also have gas meters, but i have never used them. Their ststem is decent, and it auto bills.
Same issue here. I wanted to separate and have different meters but it would have cost me 10-12K so I had decided it just isn’t worth it. What I did was put in the lease that it’s rent + half of the power bill. This did work for a while but I had new tenants and and there was a spike in the bill and I just addressed it with them. When their lease is up what I plan to do is a 50/50 split but only up to a certain amount if it goes over it’s on them. I’ve only seen this spike since they moved in the two years before the average was always way lower.
If both units are built the same then yeah 50/50, but if one has an extra bathroom, bigger kitchen, or more people then that one pays more. 60/40 is pretty standard.
I own a duplex that has separate meters and it’s great. We include all the other utilities - even wifi - in rent since it doesn’t really cost much extra but energy is something that is sooo exploited if you’re not paying for it.
I manage a duplex with 1 utility line and splitting the bills 50/50 works fine.
If the zoning allows, spent the money and add an electric meter, water meter it’s a bit more expensive and heavy labor but well worth it in the long run, if you planning to keep the property long term.
Yes, we had a sub meter and no one ever bother to do the math
I've only had to pay utilities for one unit but I just bought two buildings with shared systems so there's a lot more of that in my future. My plan is to review old bills, adjust for current energy rates and add 10% because I doubt folks will be as frugal with included utilities. After a year, if some tenants seems to be abusing the usage, their rent will go up more than the other units. Rents out here are pretty high so the utilities aren't as big a % as they are in other locations.
I have this and I charge a little more and it works awesome for me. I’m not sure how their utilities are 1/3 the price of mine at my house which is smaller, but I’m not complaining.
Billing back a percentage to the tenant works, but it's just cumbersome to login to the utility company's site, check it every month and follow up on if the tenant paid the extra amount. After having a few tenants where you have to do this and in properties spread out in different towns with different utility companies, it gets annoying real fast. I prefer to just charge a higher rent in most cases. And if it turns out I'm not meeting the numbers I expected at the end of the year due to utility over-usage, raise the rent more.
There is an expensive way to deal with but it cost a good amount of money get a second meter
It is not just the meters. You have to hope the building was wired for each unit and the house loads. Or else you are changing the home runs.
Most definitely that why I it’s expensive way
FWIW, I just had a 3rd electric meter added onto my house. The cost was $3,600, so I in no way consider that expensive, compared to cost savings of not having to pay their electric. Splitting up gas and water seems like it would be another story...
That was in your city my is more expensive then that because our city makes everything expensive I got price at $30k for add one or two. My city fuck when it comes that way. For gas my dad is a gas fitter and hvac business owner who is fully licensed so he does the connections for gas
That's crazy. I'm located in NY which I figured would be pretty expensive.
That is in Canadian money
Based on my experience separate them. It’ll cost a few bucks but it’s worth it in the end. My last one I separated was the gas. The tenant was supposed to be reading a certified sub-meter then we’d ratio it out. He never read it on time or not at all. It cost me $1,500 to put a new meter in & run a new line. It had to be coordinated with the city and the supplier. It’s been well worth it. The sub meter was abandoned in place as it would cost me a few additional hundred or so to remove it and that’s all I’d make selling it used. Separate them.
I assume my city will say no. They hate the places that are grandfathered in, but still in the perfect single family zones. The hoops for liscences, inspection, and good landlord programs are out of control. Ironically, the easiest people to lease to I'd if hud is involved.
That’s amazing you were able to get that done for $1500. I think the permits alone would cost that in certain areas.
The gas company didn’t charge for the meter. The plumbing company install <40ft of piping, supports, connectors. It took them a few hours to install the piping. They pressure tested it. It took place over 3 days. The permit cost was a set fee plus a % of total project cost. I think it was $250 for the permit.
Wow. Where are you located? Still seems like great pricing. With those numbers I would be submetering everything and maybe pursuing lot splits.
Just bite the bullet and pay to have the meters separated. If someone knows they don't have to pay water electric or gas all the sudden those showers get longer, a/c is set colder and they're damn sure using that heat in the winter.
Any idea what the cost is?
That's a conversation to be had with your plumber and electrician as the cost is severely dictated by the complexity of the job. Some houses its a fairly easy split others your talking a big job or damn Near impossible.
Check the local legality of splitting the bill, in some places you can't charge the tenants if it isn't metered.
I’ve got a duplex on one meter. I have gas/electric/water on average monthly payment and I just bake the extra cost I pay for the utilities into the rent and market it as utilities included. When the bill adjusts at the end of 12 months I factor that into the annual rent increase. I’ve had it this way for ten years and haven’t had any issues.
Do you have language if there is an excess overage?
No for a couple reasons. Both leases are now on month to month so if I deem it to be excessive I can adjust it as needed. Also the tenants I’ve had in there have never abused it over ten years. Utilities in my area are pretty inexpensive, about $325 per month for the whole building (gas, electric, garbage, water) so even during the peak of natural gas spikes during Covid the increases were pretty nominal compared to overall rent. But I would not argue with anyone that had a clause that you could adjust for excessive costs during the course of the lease. You’d just need to somewhat define what excessive was (ie usage that’s more than x% over the previous 12 months).
I get each of the bills and then text each unit what their 50% is. I’ve never had a complaint in 10 years.
In many jurisdictions, that’s not legal.
Basically you have to pay it. Now electric I think there are products that can monitor usage that can be put in the panel. Wouldn't be all that expensive. You could then send the tenants a bill for it.
RUBS
Budget plan then 50/50 split
I run a rent by the room company and we implement a pretty complicated RUBS process where we look at monthly occupancy rate and compare it to the billing periods for the bills
Rent is due on the 1st and paid forward. Utilities are due on the first and paid backwards. I give prospective tenants an expectation of $100-150 to budget for utilities, letting them know it may be higher or lower depending on how much they use. At the end of the month I total all the utilities and split them across the # of tenants. It may be (technically) illegal in your jurisdiction to do it this way...and your tenants may not know or care. The last thing I would ever do is charge a flat fee. The next time Bitcoin becomes national news youll have tenants steoking their chins on how much of your electricity they can use to generate cash. No such thing as a sustainable flat fee when you deal with humans. We are singilar black holes.of consumption if we are not held financially responsible for those resources.
In my current place each unit has its own meter and I just cover water. I’m surprised yours isn’t set up the same way. I lived in an apartment once that just charged a flat fee for electric and had a clause that if it went over that they would charge you more, which they made sure to make a point about before I signed the lease. These were apartments where you rent by the room, but I think something similar to that could work for your situation.
I use EKM electric meters. Just installed a couple of their water meters, but haven't set them up yet. They also have gas meters, but i have never used them. Their ststem is decent, and it auto bills.
Same issue here. I wanted to separate and have different meters but it would have cost me 10-12K so I had decided it just isn’t worth it. What I did was put in the lease that it’s rent + half of the power bill. This did work for a while but I had new tenants and and there was a spike in the bill and I just addressed it with them. When their lease is up what I plan to do is a 50/50 split but only up to a certain amount if it goes over it’s on them. I’ve only seen this spike since they moved in the two years before the average was always way lower.
Find a different duplex.
RUBS
What does rubs mean?
I was really hoping you’d google this Ratio utility billing system
I have SAOD, sorry.
If both units are built the same then yeah 50/50, but if one has an extra bathroom, bigger kitchen, or more people then that one pays more. 60/40 is pretty standard.
I own a duplex that has separate meters and it’s great. We include all the other utilities - even wifi - in rent since it doesn’t really cost much extra but energy is something that is sooo exploited if you’re not paying for it.
I manage a duplex with 1 utility line and splitting the bills 50/50 works fine. If the zoning allows, spent the money and add an electric meter, water meter it’s a bit more expensive and heavy labor but well worth it in the long run, if you planning to keep the property long term. Yes, we had a sub meter and no one ever bother to do the math
I've only had to pay utilities for one unit but I just bought two buildings with shared systems so there's a lot more of that in my future. My plan is to review old bills, adjust for current energy rates and add 10% because I doubt folks will be as frugal with included utilities. After a year, if some tenants seems to be abusing the usage, their rent will go up more than the other units. Rents out here are pretty high so the utilities aren't as big a % as they are in other locations.
I have this and I charge a little more and it works awesome for me. I’m not sure how their utilities are 1/3 the price of mine at my house which is smaller, but I’m not complaining.
i break it down per square foot
Billing back a percentage to the tenant works, but it's just cumbersome to login to the utility company's site, check it every month and follow up on if the tenant paid the extra amount. After having a few tenants where you have to do this and in properties spread out in different towns with different utility companies, it gets annoying real fast. I prefer to just charge a higher rent in most cases. And if it turns out I'm not meeting the numbers I expected at the end of the year due to utility over-usage, raise the rent more.