Tenants Water Bill is Outrageous!
Hello, Happy Tuesday! Here is the situation I currently find myself in!!
My Tenants are excellent meaning they pay everything on time and have treated my rental like their own. I got a call from them 2 weeks ago claiming that their water bill came in double what previous months have been. For reference its about $500 just due to water. I have done a thorough walkthrough of my property and have detected no leaks as of now, but we have not brought out a plumber yet! My tenants have contacted City of Austin to reread the meter and ensure that there are no leaks on their end. We just heard that there was no leak detected on their end and meter reading was accurate. Now, the city is threatening to turn off their utilities because they are late on the $500 water bill.
In this situation, How would you handle this as a Landlord? Is it worth it being added to the utility bill as the owner of the home so that I can call and talk with Austin Water (dont know if that's possible)? But I also dont want to be liable for unpaid bills as well. Do you think that a plumber needs to come out to ensure that there are no leaks? Any recommendations would be very helpful!! Thanks
@Tyler Warner I'll start with a potential source of the leak - from personal experience. Toilet flapper. My rental hit me with a $300 water/sewer bill during a month that it was unoccupied. Turns out the seller used the toilet on the last day and the flapper stuck open resulting in 23,000 gallons of water going down the drain. It's sneaky because you can't always hear them, especially if the bathroom door is closed after use.
As for how to handle the tenant, I would not get yourself added to the utility, unless you can do so without admitting financial liability. Rather, I'd be proactively involved with the tenant and a plumber to try to ID the problem. If the house had an outdoor spigot and that spigot leaked after the tenant occupied, and it was not leaking before occupancy- technically it is your problem to fix the leak, but not your responsibility for the water bill. That would be on the tenant to ensure the spigot was off after they last used it.
But as you said, if your tenants are excellent tenants, I would do all I could within reason to help them resolve this. It is up to you to decide what is 'within reason'.
check a few prior bills, calculate average daily consumption (actual water use not the dollars), make sure prior bills were based on actual and not estimated readings (utility companies will sometimes bill on estimates if they can’t read a meter for some reason then adjust once they have the actual reading), monitor the meter for a few days and see if the actual use matches the average you calculated. Start shutting off water. Turn off the main in the house and see if the meter stops-if it doesn’t you have an underground leak. If it does, turn the main back on and start shutting off individual valves. There should be no flow on the meter if everything is off. At some point you’ll find the leak. One bad flapper on one toilet can easily result in high consumption
Thanks @Edward Messer I appreciate the insight. Its a tough situation to be in, but those are some good recommendations to look into
Thank you @Sergey Petrov. So in the case that it is the bathroom flapper, obviously its my responsibility to fix the toilet but can you dispute that as a water leak with the city. Or would you make the tenant pay for the water bill? Thanks!
If normal wear and tear and the flapper just aged and you have great tenants, I’d pay it. You could tell your tenants that they should’ve noticed the flapper leaking and informed you immediately so there would not have been excess water meaning they are responsible for the bill. Find the cause first. Maybe it is just estimated vs actual billing and nothing needs to be done
I'm not sure of TX, but FL and CA both have the bill follow the user not the property. So with that said I would not get myself involved as it creates a possible indication that you should be involved when you shouldn't. This is really no more your problem than the tenants phone bill, except it is tied to the physical state of the property. So just like you did I would inspect for leaks, and then possibly share trouble shooting support with them then stay out of it.
Something you could have them ask the water company is do they direct read the bill every month, or estimate monthly and then read less frequently? It could be that they estimated based on lower historical use, and they've been using closer to $250/mo for 3-5 months. Then the actual meter read happens and suddenly there is a spike because the bill is reflecting the ~$50/mo that wasn't billed for a few months. This is more likely if they're a new tenant, or if they have been there since the fall/winter and maybe haven't yet experienced a summer water bill at the address (assuming irrigation etc).
The utility in my case politely told me to pound sand when I asked if they'd work with me on the $300. It didn't cost me anything to ask...
Again, depending upon your situation, if you thought the $500 bill would harm the relationship with the tenant you might consider going halvsies with them on it. But you'd want to know for sure you had the issue resolved. You don't want to sign up for half of their water bill each month till it is fixed.
@Tyler Warner you have plenty of good responses already.
I would add to your consideration....did the usage go up or just the bill? I know we are getting hammered by tenants about increased utility bills. Most of the time usage has increased due to weather. More watering to keep grass alive. And more HVAC use due to 115 degee temp.
Also many cities have increased their pricing for water. I doubt it has doubled but pair that with increased usage and it is very possible.
And this is why I read the meters in my MF properties (to make certain the rate is at 0.000/the red arrow isn't turning).
Did y'all check the meter to see if it's moving?
If I was dealing with this issue and the meter wasn't moving I would do the following:
A) Contact the local water authority and have them test the meter
B) Replace the toilet(s) or at the very lease install new guts
C) Put locks on the exterior spigots so only the tenants and you can use the water.
I've caught/found out about people (tenants and non-tenants) using my outdoor spigots and some are too stupid to fully turn the wheel to OFF, resulting in a steady drip
Also, my water authority will refund the difference on a high bill if I provide them with repair bills and have proven water usage has dropped (which typically can be proven after two lower bills where usage has returned to normal).
Check the obvious like toilets, water hoses etc. If nothing seems wrong then get a plumber to go out there. If the pipes are old cast iron pipes they can burst or leak. I have encountered that issue before with one meter old cast iron 4plexes built in the 70s in south Austin. I had a plumber run a camera through the lines to figure out if there was a leak which there was. The plumber then dug down and fixed the problem. I also had a problem one time when a tenant had ran over the city main box and had accidentally caused a leak. We didn't know about it until the water was coming out of the ground and I had to get the city involved. The city of Austin do have payment plans in place. If the city employee gives you a hard time get their info and then contact your city council rep..you will be surprised at the results.
@Tyler Warner we have had a severe drought this summer which is causing the ground to dry up and shrink. This is causing a lot of issues with cracked sprinkler system pipes if you have one installed. I have had several clients who took a few months to find out they had an underground leak with one of their sprinkler system pipes. One more thing to explore.
Turn off everything in the house, including the valves to the toilets. Then go check to see if the meter is still running. If it is, then you have a underground leak. Walk around the yard to see if there are any wet spots. Just hope it isn't under a slab, those can get pricy. I would also take this opportunity change the flappers, they are about $5-$10 and can easily run up the water bill. I personally wouldn't offer anything to the tenant, maybe pay half. Hopefully this will teach them to be more aware of leaks and it will benefit both of you.
#2 General Landlording & Rental Properties Contributor
- 10,088
- Votes |
- 13,316
- Posts
#2 General Landlording & Rental Properties Contributor
Others have given you good information on how to test if it is a flapper valve or something else in the house. See if they have been watering the lawn or something-how does it compare to last summer's bill? I'd offer to pay half and determine the cause.
@Tyler Warner
IF you did not find any leaks… heres a weird thought…
I would check to see if a neighbor next door or your tenant got a pool recently and decided to use your hose to fill it… I have seen this happen before..
Quote from @Tyler Warner:
The water bill is your tenant's responsibility.
The most likely culprit is a toilet that constantly runs or flushes. I've seen bad toilets run up a water bill of $600 or more.
If you report this to the utility provider, they may reduce the bill a little, but your tenant is still responsible for the remainder.
Repairing the toilet is your responsibility, but it's not due to negligence and you shouldn't have to share the water cost. You would be responsible for the excess water use if this happened in your personal home, so the Tenant is no different.
