A couple issues with my mobile home park

[Brittney WIlliams]

I have a tenant with a malfunctioning water heater that spews water everywhere running up the water bill that I pay. I’m running into roadblocks with what I’m legally able to do to get them to fix or replace it. I can’t force them to repair it to my knowledge.

I’m putting in submeters for the future to avoid this issue.  Would the kind at Lowe’s do the job? Or do I need a third party company to help with this or would my park manager just bill them for their usage each month?

[Frank Rolfe]

Before you do anything, you need to understand the laws regarding utility billbacks and your rights as the property owner. To gain those facts, I would contact your state manufactured housing association (MHA). Here's what you need to know:

1) What are my rights to turn off the water in the event of a leak in a home? While you may have no ability, having a festering leak is going to destroy that home and many states have rules that would allow you to take emergency action until the repair is made. If it's a matter of money -- and the tenant has none -- you might make the repair yourself and bill it back to the tenant in monthly installments. You'll come out ahead even if they don't pay for it fully as the loss of water is not cheap.

2) What are the laws regarding sub-metering utilities with a particular focus on:

a) Do you need a license or permit to do so?

b) What type of systems are allowed (meters, RUBs or CAMs)? A RUBs or CAMs system does not require meters.

c) Do you need a licensed plumber to install the meters?

d) Who is allowed to read the meters?

e) What does the billing for the utility look like (some states require certain information on the bill).

3) What type of meters can you afford? The new ones that are read by satellite are not cheap to install or maintain -- but they do a much better job and you don't have to physically read them. For mobile home parks, most people are using METRON.

4) Do you really want to get involved in all this or just raise the rent accordingly? If the answer is "too big a hassle" then you may be correct and should just raise the rent enough to cover the average utility cost.

The most important thing here is to DO NOTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE FACTS. The penalties on this issue in most states are crushing.