Florida water billing to tenants: pass through cost, add reading and billing costs, and stay under 9 percent
Florida does not regulate a landlord as a water utility when the landlord resells water to tenants at actual cost, with one allowance. Section 367.022(9) exempts a person who resells water service to tenants for a fee that does not exceed the actual purchase price of the water and wastewater service plus the actual cost of meter reading and billing, not to exceed 9 percent of the actual cost of service.
Why does a Florida landlord need an exemption at all?
Chapter 367 gives the Public Service Commission authority over water and wastewater utilities. Section 367.022 lists the people and systems that are not subject to that regulation or to the chapter. Several items matter to a landlord who bills tenants for water. They are exemptions from being treated as a utility, not permission slips from a tenant protection law, so the section is about what keeps you out of utility regulation.
Which exemptions fit a landlord?
- Subsection 5: landlords providing service to their tenants without specific compensation for the service. If water is simply included in rent, this one fits.
- Subsection 8: any person who resells water or wastewater service at a rate or charge that does not exceed the actual purchase price.
- Subsection 9: any person who resells water service to tenants or to individually metered residents for a fee that does not exceed the actual purchase price of the water and wastewater service plus the actual cost of meter reading and billing, not to exceed 9 percent of the actual cost of service.
Subsection 9 is the one that names tenants and allows a little more than pure pass-through. Use it if you pay a meter reading or billing company, or can document your own cost of reading and billing.
How does the 9 percent cap work in numbers?
Read the text in order. The fee may not exceed two things added together: the actual purchase price of the water and wastewater service, and the actual cost of meter reading and billing. The reading and billing part is itself limited to not more than 9 percent of the actual cost of service. So the 9 percent limits the add-on, not the whole bill.
Example a made-up Tampa fourplex gets a $600.00 combined water and wastewater bill. The landlord pays a billing company $30.00 for the month to read meters and issue bills. Nine percent of $600.00 is $54.00, and $30.00 is under it. The most the tenants can be billed in total is $630.00. If the billing company charged $70.00, only $54.00 of it could be passed along, for a $654.00 maximum.
The words actual cost matter. A flat $15 per unit "service fee" that is higher than what you really pay for reading and billing is not within the exemption. Keep the invoices from the billing company with the water bills.
What does Section 367.022 not tell you?
This section does not set what the lease must disclose, how often you must bill, how a tenant disputes a charge or what happens if you overcharge. It covers water and wastewater only, not gas or electricity. Those points come from your lease, the landlord and tenant law and, for electricity, the rules of the Public Service Commission, which I did not read for this post. Check them before billing.
Section 367.022 is also written about service a person resells. A clean paper trail separates your billing from a utility's: the utility bill for the building, the method of dividing it, the meter or formula and the cost of reading and billing. If a tenant asks how a number was found, you can answer from the file.
Practical steps for a Florida landlord who bills water
- Put the water and wastewater charge in the lease, with the method of dividing it, such as by submeter reading or by an agreed formula.
- Bill the cost you were billed. Do not round up or add a per-unit fee unless it is an actual reading or billing cost.
- Keep reading and billing costs on their own invoice and test them against 9 percent of the month's actual cost of service.
- Keep a copy of the utility bill for each period with the tenant's charge worked out beside it.
How DoorKeeping fits in Florida
DoorKeeping keeps each Florida utility bill, your split worksheet and the lease clause together in the unit's documents, and records what each tenant reimburses in the property's own books. The water bill, the billing company's invoice and your arithmetic for the 9 percent test can be attached to the same month. Anything involving money waits for your one-tap approval. This is general information, not legal advice. Check the current statute, any utility commission rule and your lease before you bill a tenant.
Sources
- Florida Statutes 367.022, Exemptions (Florida Legislature), read Oct 30, 2026
Questions
- Can a Florida landlord charge tenants for water?
- Section 367.022 exempts a landlord who resells water to tenants at actual purchase price plus actual meter reading and billing cost, with that add-on not over 9 percent of the actual cost of service.
- Does the 9 percent cap apply to the whole water bill?
- No. By the section's wording it limits the meter reading and billing add-on to not more than 9 percent of the actual cost of service.
- Does Section 367.022 cover electricity?
- No. It covers water and wastewater service. Electric billing to tenants is governed elsewhere, so check the Public Service Commission's rules.