Harrisonburg, Virginia landlords who bundle water into rent are covering thousands of gallons a year they never agreed to buy, and water submetering is the clean way out. The rental stock here is built around James Madison University: individually owned houses, duplexes, and small complexes along the Port Republic Road corridor and the blocks ringing campus. A JMU renter with no water bill has no reason to watch usage, and each fall’s fresh leases hand the same habits to a new crop of tenants. With True Submeter, an individual water meter goes on every unit and each tenant gets an automatic monthly invoice for exactly what they used. The full water bill comes back to you, usage drops once people pay their own way, and disputes over splitting costs disappear. Net operating income rises, and the typical owner earns back the entire setup cost in about six months. In the Valley’s biggest college rental market, that math is hard to argue with.
