Cleveland, Ohio, water/sewer huge bill <$11000 for a year>

[Raj Chandra]

We have a single family home in Cleveland, Ohio, which is rented out on section 8 (chma) , and few months back came to know that the water/sewer bill was not shifted on tenants name and we saw a $3500 water bill and around $6000 sewer bill.

There is no way the tenant would have consumed so much water, either there was leakage or some other issue... but we were surprised to see this bill. Tenant I am sure will not be able to pay. the property mgmt is trying to evict tenant and hoping that CHMA takes some responsibility of paying this bill <not sure if they will do it? any one has any experience?> As per contract tenant was supposed to pay all utility bills including water sewer.

Wanted to check what our options are, that is too huge a bill for  a year <we checked all months bill and it was 3-4 months when it sky rocketed>. Is there any way water company can bring this bill down. any pointers on how to get down the bill/handle this situation will be highly appreciated... thanks a lot.

[Marc Rice]

That sounds like an old bill that was unpaid...in Columbus the water follows the property/owner, regardless of who's name it is in. You'll probably be liable for this one. You may be able to fight Section 8 for it.