Water & sewer bill increasing every month, what to do?

Question

Bought my first rental in Feb this year, 4bd, 2ba. There is a family of 6 in there, so I expected the water & sewer bill to be high. I pay the bill since it is my name, which i believe is required in Ma. The tenant is good for the most part, but there are a few things that make me suspicious that there are either more people living there than listed on the lease, or possibly lots of different people staying over from time to time. I wouldn't really mind about the extra people since the place is kept clean and no real issues. Problem is, the water & sewer bill has been increasing and is now up to $155 this month. I am not sure what to do about it since I can't prove there are others living there.

Any suggestions? The lease isn't up until next May, I was thinking about adding something at that point about the tenant covering over a certain amount, not sure if I can legally do this though. What can I do in the meantime?

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

Here is one way to identify if there is a leak somewhere. Make sure no one is running water anywhere in the house. Then check the water meter. If the dial is spinning, then there is a leak, plain and simple. Next step is to find out where. Running toilets are the biggest culprits.If there is no water leak, then you need to investigate what is causing the extra water usage. Could the tenants be doing other people's laundry for money? Are they running a hose from one house to another? Are they washing other people's cars for money? Sometimes people get very entrepreneurial when they don't pay for water.

Sam K. · Answer

Small leaks can add over time such as toilets etc. i had some bills almost double from usual , back to normal after redoing most of the flush mechanism. Also if you have older toilets the new low gallon per flush ones will make a difference especially if many people are staying. Worth the few hundred bucks to install the new toilets especially if you have the older 3+ gpf type. Also ensure you low flow shower heads if already not in. Every little bit helps over time !

Arnie Guida · Answer

The average quarterly bill for a 4plex in MKE is +/- 600, usually under, but a couple have been above. The city started adding other things to the bill besides water usage. "We've kept property taxes down!" Yeah, because you put the things that should be on the property tax bill on the water bill...bastards.When I bought my first 4plex in '94, the quarterly bill was usually about $180. Quite a difference, innit?

Roy N. · Answer

One of the reasons we have migrated to low-flush flapperless toilets and 1.5 gpm shower heads. We have seen our water consumption drop by as much as 50 - 60% in some of our properties.In addition we either remove external hose bibs or put them behind a lock plate at our properties ... last thing you want are tenants washing their, and their buddy's, cars every week or the kids playing with the hose.

Dick Rosen · Answer

In the meantime I would be making periodic visits to see what the population is doing. If you feel there are to many people there, knock on the door and ask about it.As soon as possible I would turn that water bill over to the tenant! You may have to keep it in your name but you can still make them responsible for paying it. I have one property that the city requires the bill in my name but they send both me and the tenant a bill so I know it's getting paid.

Bill S. · Answer

@Corey Pascuzzi I have heard of tenants taking in laundry. Perhaps you could find nice used High Efficiency washer and offer to split the cost with them as it will save the costs of heating the hot water.

Andrew S. · Answer

I hear you, Arnie - the "other" fees (garbage, sewer, recycling, rainwater run-off, etc) far outstrip the actual water cost on my bill as well!Back to the topic though, I totally agree with the "toilet flapper crowd" here. I have found this to be the number one item for service calls and water leaks. So much so in fact, that I have decided to replace ALL toilet flappers at each turnover or minimally every 12 to 18 months just as a preventive measure. While they are supposed to last longer, all it takes is one service call at $100 bucks to make up for the purchase of a whole box of new flappers... people will toss those bleach disks into the toilet tanks and those just eat up the rubber flappers in no time.

Corey Pascuzzi · Answer

Hello everyone, thanks for the replies! This is a monthly bill!! The first full month was $118, then it went to $140, and $155 this past month. I have checked for leaks, but I will get over there this week and try the meter with everything turned off. I also asked the tenant about the higher bill the month before and they said they were doing a lot of laundry and that the electric bill was really high also. I figured they would have some incentive to keep the washing machine use down, but if they are washing everyone's car, or the neighbors dogs, I guess I don't know. Also, I replaced both toilets with efficient ones, but I didn't install low flow shower heads, could do that.

Sam Leon · Answer

I thought he meant $155 per month which is fairly typical for a family of 2-3 here.

Troy Sheets · Answer

I assumed he meant monthly, that's how it is in Philadelphia. If that's $155/quarter, not bad at all for a 6 person household.