Letters from Indianapolis Water

[Kyle Meyers]

I was the lucky recipient of 2 letters today from Indianapolis Water informing me 2 of my tenants are behind on their water and sewer bill payments and that Indiana code allows for the sewer bill to be attached to my property as a lien. Fortunately, the water bills are not too high yet, under $200 combined.

I first contacted the water company to verify that the bills were still unpaid and see what steps they and I could take. The confirmed neither tenant had paid their outstanding bills and informed me that the water would be shut off on Monday if they did not. I was happy to hear that the tenants will have to pay their bills to keep the service on and won't be able to run up the bills much higher and leave them for me to pay, I don't think my tenants would do this, but I have heard the horror stories.

I have contacted both tenants and they both indicated they plan to pay the bills tomorrow and keep the service from being cut off.

Is there anything else I should do? What if the water is shut off, do I need to do anything to make sure there are not problems with the pluming from that?

I have read the posts on BP discussing putting water in your own name vs. the tenants, and I am of the opinion that it is better if it is in the tenants name because the water company will shut off service to them for non-payment, which I would not be allowed to do. If they did not pay a water bill to me, my recourse would be to evict them, is that correct?

I plan to follow up with the water company and the tenants Monday.

[Marc Freislinger]

Indianapolis water will lien a property for the unpaid sewer portion of the bill. Last I knew, they were not able to lien for the water used portion of the bill. I would continue keeping the water in the tenants name, since you are correct in that you cannot shut off the utilities for non-payment.

We had the same clause in our lease as Bryan, with the tenants being required to maintain utilities (electric, heat, water) or face eviction. A lot of damage can be done by a space heater or extension cords from the neighbors house.

If the water gets shut off by the city, I would not expect it to damage anything, but you will want to ensure someone is home when the water is turned back on.