Concern of excessive water usage

[Tim Coppola]

Hello everyone,

I'll try to make a long story short here. I recently had a tenant who I could hear running the water for long amounts of times (15 minutes or more). After the third time in three weeks I asked them what they were doing and it turns out they were cleaning the bathroom but just kept the water running the whole time. I let them know that I appreciate them keeping up with the cleaning but asked them to start filling a bucket to do the cleaning and explained that water is expensive as well as a luxury here in Chicago (I know people in California who can't even water their gardens). When the next water bill came it was over $100 more than the average bill which I paid and didn't say anything to them and since there hasn't been any excessive usage that I am aware of. 

Cut to today, I have another unit to rent and a family came to look at it. There were a few red flags that I noticed:

- Before the appointment was set up they asked if laundry was free (I have shared free laundry in the building). Not a big deal but...

- During the viewing they asked if I had any plans of changing to coin operated because their last landlord made the change during their time there.

- They mentioned that they do a lot of laundry because they have two children.

Now I may be overreacting here but has anyone ever put it a stipulation in a lease that if water usage goes above a certain point (say the average over the past 6-10 bills) then a tenant has to pay extra? They seemed like a great fit but I can't stop thinking about worst case scenario that my water bill doubles once they move in.

Thanks,

Tim

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey @Tim Coppola - That stinks, people in general who don't appreciate the luxuries we have here in US bother me.  Water being one of those luxuries and like you said people in Cali can't even water gardens, but people in Africa don't even have CLEAN water.

I am not sure there's a way to educate people better on how to appreciate what they have, but I'd definitely like to figure out how.

I've never put any language in the lease about water usage, but in your case, I think it's fair for you to include that language in your lease.

It stinks in Chicago that landlords pay for water....hopefully we can somehow change that.