HELP WITH MY TWO FAMILY HOME

[James Thomas Nakashian]

I recently purchased a two family house, the person living downstairs has been there from the previous owner. The upstairs is vacant. The tenant downstairs says his utilities were included in his rent. As the new owner I have recently found a new tenant for upstairs. I would like to split the utilities between the upstairs and downstairs tenants. Unfortunately the renter downstairs has been having his utilities covered in his rent. What would be a viable solution to having the upstairs tenant and the downstairs tenant split the cost of utilities? I am trying to come up with a solution that makes both tenants happy..

[Jared Mastley]

Hi @James Thomas Nakashian,

It sounds like the downstairs tenant isn't so much concerned with the cost as he is with the hassle of splitting utilities every month. I recommend you check with the utilities companies on the cost from the past year, add it all up (total cost of utilities for a year), divide by 12 (average cost of utilities per month), divide by 2 (number of tenants in the building), and add this amount to each tenant's rent + a small factor of safety if you want.

You're happy because you know you aren't getting shafted by utilities every month (and possibly making a little extra if you estimate a little on the high side), and your tenants are happy because they don't have to worry about splitting utilities. Win-win.

Let us know what you decide to do!