Tenant Rights, water bill edition
February 15, 2018 7:02 AM Subscribe
YANML: Due to a leak the landlord promised to fix, we received a $1000 water bill. Do we have any recourse to get landlord to pay some amount?
We had a leaking toilet. Let the landlord know asap in July. She promised to come fix it while we were out of town. We offered to have a plumber come and deduct it from the rent. She refused.
We ended up being out of town for seven weeks (August 1-September 21) due to Hurricane Irma. Upon return, we received a $1000 water bill for the time period June-September. Called plumber the next day; he fixed leaking toilet, then checked everything else to be sure there wasn't another leak.
Disputed with water company. Checked meters, main lines, etc. Water company denied request for credit.
Spoke to landlord again, asked for $400 credit on rent because of the bill ($1000 bill minus $200 regular charges [based on historical bill], split in half). She has refused. She admits in an email that she didn't take care of the leak, but still takes no responsibility.
Do we have any rights as tenants to have her pay some of this bill? This is in Miami-Dade, Florida.
We had a leaking toilet. Let the landlord know asap in July. She promised to come fix it while we were out of town. We offered to have a plumber come and deduct it from the rent. She refused.
We ended up being out of town for seven weeks (August 1-September 21) due to Hurricane Irma. Upon return, we received a $1000 water bill for the time period June-September. Called plumber the next day; he fixed leaking toilet, then checked everything else to be sure there wasn't another leak.
Disputed with water company. Checked meters, main lines, etc. Water company denied request for credit.
Spoke to landlord again, asked for $400 credit on rent because of the bill ($1000 bill minus $200 regular charges [based on historical bill], split in half). She has refused. She admits in an email that she didn't take care of the leak, but still takes no responsibility.
Do we have any rights as tenants to have her pay some of this bill? This is in Miami-Dade, Florida.
Is the toilet fixed ?
When you left town for ~2 months, why didn't you shut off the water - either to the toilet or the house ?
In my jurisdiction, we're billed quarterly, and if you have the leak fixed within a quarter, they will credit your bill. (EG Q1 get a super high bill, pay it, find and fix the leak in Q2, submit the paperwork, get a credit on Q3 bill).
If the leak is still there, and has been since July, I can see the water authority tell you to pound sand. They don't care who is supposed to fix it (you vs landlord).
posted by k5.user at 7:08 AM on February 15, 2018
When you left town for ~2 months, why didn't you shut off the water - either to the toilet or the house ?
In my jurisdiction, we're billed quarterly, and if you have the leak fixed within a quarter, they will credit your bill. (EG Q1 get a super high bill, pay it, find and fix the leak in Q2, submit the paperwork, get a credit on Q3 bill).
If the leak is still there, and has been since July, I can see the water authority tell you to pound sand. They don't care who is supposed to fix it (you vs landlord).
posted by k5.user at 7:08 AM on February 15, 2018
Response by poster: Not to threadsit, but:
The leak was fixed the day after we received the high water bill.
The water didn't get turned off while we were gone because we had a housesitter. And we only expected to be gone three weeks.
We fixed the leak immediately, and disputed it with the water company. No dice.
Anyway, this isn't a water company question. That's been exhausted. This is a landlord question.
posted by mrfuga0 at 7:13 AM on February 15, 2018
The leak was fixed the day after we received the high water bill.
The water didn't get turned off while we were gone because we had a housesitter. And we only expected to be gone three weeks.
We fixed the leak immediately, and disputed it with the water company. No dice.
Anyway, this isn't a water company question. That's been exhausted. This is a landlord question.
posted by mrfuga0 at 7:13 AM on February 15, 2018
Response by poster: Told her in July. Water bill is from June-September.
posted by mrfuga0 at 7:19 AM on February 15, 2018
posted by mrfuga0 at 7:19 AM on February 15, 2018
Small claims court, and ask for her to pay 100% of the charges above the normal use. She's the owner, this is her problem.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:24 AM on February 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:24 AM on February 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Contact a local tenant's rights organization; they answer questions like this all the time and will know the laws in your state. Just search your state or city and "tenant's rights." Here's HUD's list of links for each state, which is not a complete resource but may be a good start.
Your state's consumer protection agency may also be a good source of info.
Just a quick note responding to the suggestion you sue your landlord. That might make it more difficult to rent in the future, given the existence of tenant blacklists created by third party companies who search court records. Usually it's for folks sued by landlords for withholding rent, but there's no oversight of the lists and they scour records just for the appearance of a name, regardless of cause. More of a problem in some cities than others, I imagine.
posted by mediareport at 7:32 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Your state's consumer protection agency may also be a good source of info.
Just a quick note responding to the suggestion you sue your landlord. That might make it more difficult to rent in the future, given the existence of tenant blacklists created by third party companies who search court records. Usually it's for folks sued by landlords for withholding rent, but there's no oversight of the lists and they scour records just for the appearance of a name, regardless of cause. More of a problem in some cities than others, I imagine.
posted by mediareport at 7:32 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
You need to check how the water bill works in your area, but in my area you could stick her with the entire thing.
In my area, any unpaid water bills attach to the PROPERTY, not to the person that has the name on the bill. If a water bill goes unpaid long enough, it might even get certified to the taxes for the property. This is because the water system is run by the government and they use their remedies for collections, and their remedies are to shut off the water and put a lien on the property. Unpaid water charges become a lien on the property and must be paid before the property can be transferred to a new owner.
In my area, the other utilities do not attach to the property. The electric bill, for instance, is run privately not publically so it attaches to the person with the name on the bill and goes to collections in the way all other bills do, and cannot become a lien on the property (unless they take it to small claims court and have the judgment certified as a lien, which they don't usually do).
So, IF the water system works in your area the way it works in my area, and IF the water utility will not hurt your credit score by reporting you to regular collections and they will continue to supply you with water with a huge outstanding balance, you can move out, walk away, and let the bill attach to the property as a lien. Or maybe make a bargain with the water company to pay an extra $10 per month or something just to make them happy enough to keep the water on and then walk away when your lease is up and you move.
I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but it's one way to do it.
Your landlord may or may not know this is how it works.
To verify it works like this in your area, call the water people and ask if they every certify bills to taxes or take out liens on properties.
If the low level frontline water reps don't know what's going on, call a title company or whoever transfers property titles in your area and ask if the water bill attaches to the property as a lien that has to be cleared up before a transfer. They will know, they have to clean that up all the time.
If you are certain it becomes a lien, you have a lot of negotiating power with your landlord. If you choose not to pay the water AT ALL she will still get stuck with the bill.
But, if she owns the property as an LLC or something, it might not hit her personally but sooner or later they might shut off the water. And of course she would need to clear the lien before she transfers the property.
posted by littlewater at 7:59 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
In my area, any unpaid water bills attach to the PROPERTY, not to the person that has the name on the bill. If a water bill goes unpaid long enough, it might even get certified to the taxes for the property. This is because the water system is run by the government and they use their remedies for collections, and their remedies are to shut off the water and put a lien on the property. Unpaid water charges become a lien on the property and must be paid before the property can be transferred to a new owner.
In my area, the other utilities do not attach to the property. The electric bill, for instance, is run privately not publically so it attaches to the person with the name on the bill and goes to collections in the way all other bills do, and cannot become a lien on the property (unless they take it to small claims court and have the judgment certified as a lien, which they don't usually do).
So, IF the water system works in your area the way it works in my area, and IF the water utility will not hurt your credit score by reporting you to regular collections and they will continue to supply you with water with a huge outstanding balance, you can move out, walk away, and let the bill attach to the property as a lien. Or maybe make a bargain with the water company to pay an extra $10 per month or something just to make them happy enough to keep the water on and then walk away when your lease is up and you move.
I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but it's one way to do it.
Your landlord may or may not know this is how it works.
To verify it works like this in your area, call the water people and ask if they every certify bills to taxes or take out liens on properties.
If the low level frontline water reps don't know what's going on, call a title company or whoever transfers property titles in your area and ask if the water bill attaches to the property as a lien that has to be cleared up before a transfer. They will know, they have to clean that up all the time.
If you are certain it becomes a lien, you have a lot of negotiating power with your landlord. If you choose not to pay the water AT ALL she will still get stuck with the bill.
But, if she owns the property as an LLC or something, it might not hit her personally but sooner or later they might shut off the water. And of course she would need to clear the lien before she transfers the property.
posted by littlewater at 7:59 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I tell everyone to do this, but it nearly always works: Call up your local representative, and tell them the problem and ask if they can intervene with the water utility. I've never lived in a city where the water bill wasn't the landlord's responsibility. This isn't a situation where you should have to end up in small claims court or some such; it's a situation where the bill was improperly addressed to the wrong name.
posted by Violet Blue at 11:04 AM on February 15, 2018
posted by Violet Blue at 11:04 AM on February 15, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 7:07 AM on February 15, 2018 [3 favorites]