Inspector makes tenants water bill shoot up $3,000

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Inspector makes tenants water bill shoot up $3,000

Neal Collins
Developer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 732 posts · 490 votes

A single family house we manage is under contract to be sold, and during the due diligence phase the inspector left the water running in the kitchen and the bathroom for a full two hours. Water in Portland is billed on a 3 month cycle and the tenants just contacted me saying that their bill jumped from $300 to $3,000 and they believe it is due to the inspector leaving the water running. These are model tenants and we've never had a problem with them for two years we've had them.

Has anyone else run into a problem like this? Someone yesterday was telling me that the water company actually uses the Dec-March time period to determine the rest of the year's billing, which would be a disaster if it was pegged to $3k.

I've got someone checking to make sure there isn't a leak somewhere, but outside of that who takes the brunt of the bill? The buyer because they ordered the inspection? The seller because they are selling the place? The tenant even though they haven't had any say in the matter? 

Thanks for your input!

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Steve B.
Engineer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
There is no way running the water for two hours would raise a bill by $2,700. More like $40. Portland bills around 1.5 cents a gallon coming in, then 3 times that as "waste water" going out. A huge portion of the base water cost is fixed and then a variable per gallon charge which is nominal per gallon. I'm doing this from memory but I'm sure that story from the tenant isn't correct. My guess is a busted water main.
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  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    9y

    call water company and tell them what you think happened maybe they make a one time concession.

    my grandma came over to water our yard one year and left the water running for a week whilst we were in Hawaii... can't recall the cost but I was able to pull the granny card.. this was in Palo Alto CA though.. and that town is rich..

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  • Steve B.
    Engineer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y
    There is no way running the water for two hours would raise a bill by $2,700. More like $40. Portland bills around 1.5 cents a gallon coming in, then 3 times that as "waste water" going out. A huge portion of the base water cost is fixed and then a variable per gallon charge which is nominal per gallon. I'm doing this from memory but I'm sure that story from the tenant isn't correct. My guess is a busted water main.
    6Reply
  • Steve Moody
    Portland, OR · Member since 2008 · 123 posts · 73 votes
    9y

    @Neal Collins I'm having a hard time believing that leaving on water for two hours made the cost go up that much. I'd contact the water company to see if maybe the meter reader is dyslexic and transposed a number.  

    I read this on  

    If the bill is usually $300 and it's now $3000, that's $2700 of extra water. Which is 640 ccf, which is 478,753 gallons of water. Do you really think the kitchen and bathroom would pump that much water out in 2 hours? 

    3Reply
  • Matthew Paul
    Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    9y

    If they left the sink running full bore for 2 hours , it would be no more than 5 gallons per minute . Thats 300 gallons per hour or 600 gallons total .  Somebody is trying to BS you . If there isnt a leak somewhere , the tenant used the water and is looking for a way out . If water was that expensive , I would drink a lot more beer.

    5Reply
  • Matt Garboden
    Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
    9y

    Give them a call. City of Portland has a one-time concession for leaks. If the leak is outside the house, they can refund the majority of the bill. If it's inside, they still charge you sewer portion. 

    I had a leak in the yard a few years ago and they wrote off most of a 2k water bill.

    3Reply
  • Steve B.
    Engineer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    yes the city wrote off an outside main leak of about $600 for me too.  Hopefully they are still doing that

    1Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    9y

    Neil not to hijack your thread as I see you have gotten great answers

    I wanted to make an antidotal comment about us west coast land lords in mid west or upper rust belt cities LIke Detroit.  And something that many get caught unawares.

    in some of those cities and for sure the city of Detroit... even though utls are in the name of the tenant .. they become a lien if not paid.. and nothing can remove them not even a foreclosure.

    So its really important for landlords to check quarterly in those markets if their tenants are paying water and gas and power..

    not only that city of Detroit will NOT turn them off for none payment... and the tenants know this..

    some tenants simply will never pay a bill..

    I have seen liens as high as 10k on props that I financed there.. IE bank OREO's my clients were buying and I was funding them.. liens were in the prelim title reports.. I have seen banks have to bring cash to close  LOL

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  • John Whittle
    Vendor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2014 · 144 posts · 58 votes
    9y

    I'd get a hold of that bill.  Most likely its some sort of roll over from previous months they couldn't read the meter or they were on even billing and have been going way over all year.  As has been said no way this is from the home inspector running the water for 2 hours.  I think the tenants are trying to pull one over on you.  If you had a leak that big you should know it.  It'd have to be outside and the yard would most likely be a swamp.  If not a swamp there is usually atleast a low spot where the leak is.

    1Reply
  • Frank Fletcher Broucek
    Woodridge, IL · Member since 2017 · 18 posts · 6 votes
    9y

    I have aerators on our faucets and so does everyone else. I doubt that five gallons can be filled in a minute. Right now our pool is down 12" for the winter. At Portland's way of calculating this would cost us ten times $2,700.- so someone is fooling you. I am a home inspector and I run all the faucets for hours. I have been doing this for over two decades. This cost is negligible.

    1Reply
  • Matthew Paul
    Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    9y

    I used the 5 gallons per minute on a sink faucet for an example . It would be no where near that . It was for simple math . 

    1Reply
  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2015 · 338 posts · 332 votes
    9y

    I talked to the PWB yesterday about an unexpected mondo bill.  Went through every possible scenario: dyslexic meter reader (easy to check, just look at the meter and see if it's close to but past the most recent read), leak in main to house (see below), leak in a fixture within house (see below), or just freak usage (good luck).

    Here's how to test for a leak in the main:  Shut off water main inside the house.  Check meter.  Does it move?  If not, there's probably not a huge leak in the main.  Wait 10 minutes.  Has it moved since you first checked it?  If so, there might be a slow leak in the main.  

    If the meter didn't move in either of those cases, turn on the water in the house but keep all fixtures off.  Check the meter as per above.  If it's moved after 10 minutes and no one has used water inside, then there's water leaking somewhere.  

    Toilet dye test: place food coloring in toilet tank.  Wait 10 minutes.  If the bowl water turns the color of the dye, there's a toilet issue.  

    Regarding the winter bill setting the sewer rate for the entire year:  The city assumes people irrigate in the summer, so they use the number of winter CCFs to subsequently bill for sewer in the spring, summer, and fall.  If water use is higher in the summer, the sewer CCFs will not rise above what the bill was in the winter.  This is significant, because sewer is more expensive than water.  For example, if you used 30 CCFS in the winter, you'll never get billed more than 30 CCFs for sewer in the summer, even if you use 100 CCFs of water. But if you used 100 CCFs of water in the winter and 30 CCFs in the summer, you'll pay for the full 30 CCFs for sewer, even if half that was used to water your plants and isn't getting treated as sewage.  

    The water bureau will make exceptions for freak bills, at least as it relates to setting the yearly CCF sewer use.  But they'll ask you whether it was from a leak or not, and if so, they'll cut you a bigger break than if the freak bill is inexplicable.   

    2Reply
  • Mike NussPro Member
    Real Estate Entrepreneur · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 451 posts · 327 votes
    9y

    @Account Closed that $2,700 is ridiculous. Being that they're billed quarterly. That's like two extra years worth of water billing inside of one cycle. That's downright crazy. I'm curious to see if you've had water bill spiking on other properties as well. Any chance the buyer went over late night and broke the water main to get a little credit on their buy? That was a joke, I hope. 

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  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2015 · 338 posts · 332 votes
    9y

    I just found out the cause of my $700 bill (it's normally $300, and I split it with my tenant next door). Tenant told me this morning she noticed her garden hose was on and just running water into the landscaping near her front door. 

    @Mike Nuss it was just this property, though another duplex also had a bill that was about $75 higher.

    0Reply
  • Neal Collins
    OP
    Developer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 732 posts · 490 votes
    9y

    Turns out there is a leak somewhere. Have got the leak detection team on it.

    0Reply
  • David Dachtera
    Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    @Neal Collins,

    Hope they find it fast! It's on your side of the meter. So, you could be developing moisture damage in a major way.

    0Reply
  • Scott Upshaw
    Bridgewater, NJ · Member since 2015 · 100 posts · 31 votes
    9y
    must be a pretty significant leak! good luck man.
    0Reply
  • Kenneth GarrettPro Member
    Investor · Florida Panhandle/Illinois · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    I am an inspector and I have never left a faucet run.  With that being said a couple hours would not have impacted the bill to such a significant amount.  If you have great tenants then I agree with the previous comments a water leak must be going on.  It could be as simple as a bad water meter.  Take a look at the meter and see if it is running oddly.  I had a resident whose water bill was $10,000 for a household because someone tried to reverse the reading of the water meter.

    Good Luck.

    0Reply
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