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$2000 dollar water bill

John Ball

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I am hoping someone can give me some advice. My tenant has lived in the house for over 2 years; a few months ago the girlfriend moves out and a bunch of the guy's buds move in. Okay, fine so far I say, as long as they pay the rent so I renewed his one year lease on March 5 2019.

All of a sudden on March 25 the tenant texts me that his water bill is $1100 and has been rising for the last 3 months. (I should mention that I always have my tenants put utilities in their names) We both suspect a leaking toilet and when I go over there that's exactly what I found - both upstairs and downstairs toilets floats are mis-adjusted causing the water supply to never shut off. I showed him where the water meter is and I showed him how I am adjusting the float valve to stop the flow of water when the tank is full enough. Before I leave we both take note that the water meter dial isn't moving at all. Everything looks good.

April 3, tenant texts me that he has been checking the water meter and everything looks good but he would like $200 off the rent. Thinking that this is a one-time lesson for the young guy I respond I am not taking $200 off the rent because of his late response to all of this mess.

Now, on April 26 the tenant text me again that he has just gotten a $1200 water bill and needs the problem fixed immediately (well apparently he can wait until Sunday the 28th - his choice) and would like to "review this situation properly".

Help, how do I deal with this? Can I evict the problem for neglect of the premises?

thanks,

John
 

Thomas Beyer

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It’s your toilet and so you, as the landlord should fix it.

Or give him $400 to fix it.


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kfort

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Fix the toilet. Replace the flapper while your in there regardless of if it is leaking as they only last a few years before they warp anyway. Personally, where I live, I would give him zero discount. From the sounds of it there’s ~4+ people living there who apparently decided that the running toilet for months on end would be your problem not theirs. As a result they racked up a big bill. If he wants discounts he can collect from the riff raff he hauled in after Susie Q left. Lease says he pays for water, he pays for water. Don’t like it? Hit the road buddy, lease says you’re paying rent until ____ regardless of where you’re living and will be enforced fully.

I don’t pay for other people’s stupidity. At least not voluntarily.


However,.... if you happen to be in a communist province I may approach this differently...


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John Ball

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Sorry Thomas, I think you misunderstood. I did fix the toilet problem back in March and wow, the floats on both toilets were way out of adjustment. It's like somebody was watching a Youtube video on how to make your toilet flush better and yeah, the way it was adjusted, you would always get maximum water out of the tank.
You may be right though, if I do replace both toilets, even though I think it's a people problem not a toilet problem, then what more can he complain about.
 

Thomas Beyer

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Point out to him that HE is responsible for water. He can chose to move, with appropriate notice.

What province is this?


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John Ball

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So, just wanted to update everybody on this. Location of the property is Edmonton Alberta.

Today, I visited the tenant and looked at his water bills. Turns out his latest bill, the $1200 one he contacted me about on April 26, is the water bill with a "statement date" of April 16 and a last meter read date of April 1.

We looked at his water meter reading today, April 28, and it shows usage of less than 20 cubic meters since April 1 - so back to normal and it looks like my initial repair in late March fixed the issue. He understands now unfortunately how his lack of action in the months leading up to this caused him to owe the water company a lot of money.

P.S. I still think one of his roommates was monkeying around with the toilet tanks. They don't all-of-a-sudden get that far out of adjustment all by themselves.

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