Comments on: Landlords: Watch your Water Bill

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:04:58 +0000

Get the lower-flushing toilets, or use a water bottle filled with water and a little rock for weighting.

Or wrap up a brick.

20 oz watter bottle on a gallon flusher = ~1 gallon saved per 4 flushes. Do the math.

By: Scott Ficek

Scott Ficek — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:53:27 +0000

Every city is different. I would be concerned that if the water is off, the city may come back and say the property is uninhabitable. You may need to move the tenants out (which might be fine). Watch that the city doesn’t then condemn the property.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:46:51 +0000

I rent a house in Clearwater. The tenants signed a lease on Feb 1st which states that they are responsible for water/sewage. I put the water/sewage account into the tenants name. The tenant is current on lease payments.
In Sept I receive a letter from the city saying they have not received a payment since Jan and a bill for $950 in unpaid water/sewer. The city has a by-law that states the owner of the property is responsible to pay and the city has threatened to put a lien on the property if it is not paid in 2-weeks.

I confronted the tenant about this but they are refusing to pay it off.

I asked the city to cut off the water and they told me they will proceed with giving the tenant a 10day notice.

By: Minnesota Real Estate

Minnesota Real Estate — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:50:36 +0000

Good info. It is so crucial to watch this bill. Even if you have tenants paying this bill you want to stay on top of it. The water bill is the one utility bill that stays with your property. So if your tenants bail on you, you don’t want to be left high and dry or maybe better said all wet.

By: Minneapolis Homes

Minneapolis Homes — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:48:17 +0000

Oh the good ole’ water bill! I make sure to watch this closely with tenants. Thanks for this outstanding information!