High Water Bill With Uncooperative Landlord

[Michael Newman]

So I have lived in a townhouse going on the middle of May. In the lease agreement it is our responsibility to pay the water bill but it is in our landlord's name. I am alright with paying the water bill as that is normal around here. My average water bill from previous residences is about $70.

Since I have lived here these are the water bills:

 1st qtr - $83 (only lived her partial qtr)

 2nd qtr - landlord forgot to send bill

 3rd qtr - $299

 4th qtr - $410

The 3rd qtr was alarming to me. I paid rent after qtr 2 and asked why we didnt receive a water bill. Come 3rd qtr I got a letter saying he forgot and wouldn't charge us. Based on the dollar amount I thought he changed his mind and I still paid the full amount. Now the bill is $410 so I decided to contact him. When he sends us an invoice it just says dollar amount we owe and nothing about usage. He is trying to say we used that much water because neither I nor the maintenance guy hear water running anywhere.

What should my next step be if the landlord isn't working with me on this? The meter is running without using water. It is only 0.1 gallons per 30 minutes but that proves there is a leak. I'm stuck from here.

[Russell Brazil]

Take a video of the meter running, send it to him, tell him to fix it.