Of all the rental properties I’ve ever owned, there is one utility bill I’ve always gotten stuck paying out-of-pocket.

The water bill.

There are a few reasons why the water bill always ends up being my problem.

1. In my area, unpaid water bills go as liens on a property (instead of collections to tenants), so if my tenants ever stop paying—it hurts me, not them.
2. Water bills in my city are read quarterly (not monthly like gas and electric), which makes it very difficult to track which tenants should be paying which portions of the bill when one moves out and another one moves in.
3. Most cities don’t have the infrastructure to deal with “landlord situations” very well. Frequent tenant transfers, notifying landlords if water is shut off, transferring to landlords when a tenant move out—it’s a hassle to make tenants pay this bill directly.

A lot of multifamily landlords have to deal with this issue. Water is one of those ever-present utilities that is always needed, no matter who your tenants are, what time of year it is, or what region of the country you’re in.

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