Water Submetering

Questions. My question is in regards to sewer and water pass throughs: 

1. Is it still true, that you can pass through utilities?

2.  If so, what is a reasonable time for notice? 

3.  The newer MHCO space rental agreements do have a provision for pass through, however what if a tenant has been in the park for years & there is no provision for pass through on a rental agreement that they signed?  

4.  I do know of a MHP that does pass through and they send a bifurcated bill- one for utilities and one for space rent.  However, most tenants pay with one check or money order.  I have a MHP in Southern Oregon and the sewer is a fixed amount, so it would be easy to divide that amount up between the tenants, obviously with a proviso that if the sewer bill increases or decreases we would make an adjustment to the bill.

A MHP that does pass through water and sewer told me that their bill decreased by about 30% because the tenants knew they were now paying for the water and tried to conserve.  They knew their bill would be reduced if they used less water.  In my Southern Oregon MHP, the sewer is a fixed amount so that incentive would not be there unless the sewer district decreased their bill to the park and I had not intended to pass through water at this time.  NOTE:  If I metered the park it would be very expensive & I would have to take each tenant to small claims if they didn't pay.  Even though it's the same with pass through, the tenants don't get bill separately each month, so it looks different.

Question No. 1. We are currently in the process of submetering our community and we have been asked a question by the residents that we run into frequently. This scenario refers to the first month of billing, i.e. January 2017: Tenants ask “If we are being billed for utility usage from November 15 – December 15 and then we pay for usage on our January rent invoice, haven’t we already paid for these services in our December rent, i.e. before the effective date of the submetering? If so, it appears that we are paying for it twice.

Question. We are sub-metering a property and have given all the appropriate notices including the 24 hour notice for right of entry to their space. About 20 residents have denied our access to the site and are asking us to provide them with exact dates on when we can enter their space.  We could do that however as with all of these projects delays may happen and it would require the possibility or multiple 24 notices to change the dates of entry.  Do the residents have right to do this, if we have given them a 24 hour notice with a window of 30 days for which we could gain access to their lot. Also if we relented on the original plans and 24 hour notice and we hand-posted a 24 hour notice for the right of entry when we know which sites we will be working on the next day is that an option?

As a Manufactured Home Park owner, there are many things to consider in regards to water submeter conversion in Oregon. “To Submeter or Not to Submeter?”