Re: Tenants not paying water bill - Landlord Forum thread 239806

Re: Tenants not paying water bill by ERIC on November 6, 2011 @19:37

NEVER shut off water to a residence, even if you can. The water company likely will not. What will happen is the tenants will do what they always do, assuming they have water. The new variable is there is no longer water to move things to where they should go.

Secondly, NEVER let a tenant pay a bill that can be assessed directly to the property. Include it in the rent, or watch it just like you do the rent.

A $700 indicates you were not watching. They might not have even known about the water bill to pay. Does your lease say they need to specifically pay for water? Or just all utilities? Did you check? How do they even know the amount, it typically gets sent to the Owner. Did you tell them the amounts?

You can likely evict, but let them have time to pay. MN is the highest cost eviction state in the Nation, complements of the DFL. You cannot divert rent payments to the water bill.

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Re: Tenants not paying water bill by M&M (MN) on November 6, 2011 @19:47	[ Reply ]

No, we were not watching the water bill (its actually water and light). Have never had a problem with any tenants. The lease they signed clearly states they are responsible for water, sewer and electricity. The tenants are sent the bill, not us.