Tenant Pay for Water/Sewer?

[Ben Freiman]

So I live in Columbus OH and our water/sewer is invoiced on a quarterly basis and the price for a 2000 sq ft home is about $100 per month or $300 per quarter. My question is, do most people have the tenant pay for water/sewer on their own or is this typically an owner cost? I have a SFH at about 1500 sq ft.

I would like to have the tenant pay for it, but I do realize a $200-$300 bill could surprise some people. Options seem to be (1) me including a lease option where the rent would increase approx $80 per month if owner covers utility, (2) tenant sucks it up and pays  or (3) owner pays and comes out of income spread. 

My thoughts are to give the tenant the full "home ownership" experience and let them pay for all utilities. Any thoughts from the community? Thank you.  

[Ron H.]

Depending on where you live, if a tenant does not pay water the owner is ultimately responsible for the bill and liens can be placed on your house for this reason.  To prevent this I pay the water bill and require the tenant to pay me a fixed monthly water prepayment amount set to be a little higher than the historical water bills with a clause that this amount can be adjusted up or down depending on actual water usage.  At the end of the lease period the overage/underpayment is settled up.  If due amount is within I few dollars I just automatically forgive this.