All my properties have the water billed to the property, but the water billing dept of the munis will let me put tenant's name on the bill that is sent to the property. The city assesses a late fee of 10% on the water bill balance. Each year's (say 2018) unpaid balance gets put on the following year property taxes (about summer 2019).

My lease says tenant pays for water, even though it may be billed to the property. My plan up to now has been to just remind the tenants they have large balance and to pay it. And if they want to renew, they must pay the whole balance prior to renewing, and if they leave, I deduct from their security (1.5 mos, more than enough )

This is opposite how my city does it, so I'm spit-wadding ideas here.

One other idea I had was , for tenants who didn't pay their water bill, if they wanted to renew, to both pay the outstanding balance AND pay an additional amount, say $200-300 , to put a credit on the water billing.

Since the money doesn't get into my hands and some munis only refund to the person who paid, I wonder if this would count as deposit.

In my area, water, sewer, trash, and several other things stay in the property owner's name. They can not be transferred to the tenant.

My tenants pay for those utilities and I check every month to make sure they have been paid and I will let the tenant know when they haven't been paid. I would not let the bill mount up all year.

My lease says we send copies of water/sewer copies and they are added to next rent cycle so never have unpaid water more than 3 months old, payments go to the damages and water/sewer so if the payment is short we remind them if short next month court action will begin.

In my city, single family resident tenants put their names on the gas and water & power bills. If they skip, I'm off the hook.

I've had poor results trying this. Good tenants pay. Bad ones don't and could care less.No matter what you put in the lease, bad tenants don't care.

Just raise the rent by an amount equal to the water bill or a little more. You can always refund overages once a year, just like a tax refund.

This way, it stops the arguing and the tenants lies. If they don't pay the rent, evict them on day one.

Also, if possible, collect a water use deposit.

Always, always, always get a full maximum deposit. Never allow the deposit to be used up. If they break or mess up something, get the money for it immediately. Do not take it from the deposit.

In most areas of my City, a tenant has to fill out a credit application to turn on Utility services. But one small city near to Los Angeles allows just about anyone to turn on service. Why? Because if a bill is unpaid, they will charge the owner, plus late fee's and penalties.

So a tenant who signed a 1 year lease moved out after six months. I was able to re-rent the home and only loose a few days rent. Before returning the un-used part of their deposit, I drove down to the Utility Office and confirmed their water and power bill was current and all paid up before the tenant turned off the service. I got this in writing.

Six months later the Utility company reported I hadn't paid for the service within the last six months and wanted triple the amount. The new tenant tried to put service in their name but when it showed a balance, they put it in my name and sent the bill to the rental property. I was never notified.

SO I sued the Utility in small claims court near to my house, not the rental. They thought they could bully me..... So they turned off the service to the rental and wouldn't allow the tenant any service. So with the neighbors permission I hooked up water and power from their home to my rental, adding sub meters.

The utility then reported me to the police for steeling service. I had the chief electrical and water inspector for the city review my work and found I had not stolen any services.

I then had my attorney and insurance carrier take over. As a contractor I have business insurance. They got he matter settled. They had to pay my legal fee's and zero out my so called debt.

That sounds like crooked government to me. I agree with others in that I would just up my rent to cover the cost of water and if they don't pay then you can treat it as failure to pay rent.

I hope you get it resolved and I hope you can fight to get laws changed.