Identifying Intentional Water Wastage in Building

[Nabeel M.]

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experienced intentional water wastage by a tenant (running sink water etc) in an apartment building.  I'm suspecting someone is upset because their rent was raised.

If so, how did you go about finding the responsible party?

Thanks

[Adam Lang]

Perhaps you should first do an inspection of the units to make sure there are no leaks anywhere. If everything checks out maybe issue a letter to all of the tenants saying that water bills have been unusually high and if it continues you may have to raise rent prices across the board.  

[Nabeel M.]

@Adam Lang  Good idea. Incidentally, I did put out letters saying we suspect a leak and it could be a toilet and shared instructions on how to test.  Few residents followed up saying they had a toilet leak.  Subsequent to that, the flap/valve (guts of toilets) were replaced but no change in water.

[Adam Lang]

@Nabeel M. Don't trust your tenants to do the inspection, they will never care as much as you. Give them proper notice and then you or a property manager should go in and inspect each unit. In addition to the toilets you can look for water damage on the walls, floors, ceilings, etc. in case there is a broken/leaking pipe somewhere.