water bill - Landlord Forum thread

water bill by deb (pa) on November 15, 2009 @17:36

i have a two unit apartment and so far this month i have not received any rents which are at least one week late, and i have reason to believe they will not be paying any time soon. My quarterly water bill is due and since i have gotten no rents, my funds are low and i cant afford to pay the water bill. is it legal for me to let the city shut off the water?

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Re: water bill by Anonymous on November 15, 2009 @18:26	[ Reply ]
No state will allow you to turn off the water or even allow it to be turned off by the city. In some states, an "all bills paid" lease can allow you to turn off the water. Even it you could turn it off, do you really want over run toilets and trashed out apartments? Water is considered a health and safety issue which the health department will respond to.

Re: water bill by Kelly (PA) on November 15, 2009 @20:34

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If you don't pay the bill, it will probably be a good long while before they actually shut it off. Once they do, all it will really accomplish is trashing your credit with the water company, and you will need a security deposit before they turn you on again. If the water is shut off, the city will shut down your building (the water company may offer the tenants an opportunity to pay the bill themselves first.) The tenants will have to move then, but your building will be condemned and you'll have a really bad rap with the city. Trust me, I bought a nice building real cheap that had been owned by a landlord who didn't pay the bill and got shut off by the city. Spent a lot of money on repairs to the plumbing and drywall, though!

Pay your water bill. Evict your crappy tenants. Start over. If you can't afford the bills, evict the crappy tenants and shut the building down yourself, drain the plumbing, and work out payments with the water company. Things will get better. Maybe you can put the building up for sale when the economy gets better if you're really sick of it.

Hang in there!

Re: water bill by Anonymous on November 16, 2009 @08:29	[ Reply ]
never understood why people get tangled up with utility bills. Minimize your exposure to the tenant financially as much as possible. As soon as I have a new tenant, I let them know that they will have 5 days of water and electricity. At 5 days it's turned off.

Re: water bill