Tenant Abusing Water in 4Plex

[Rob Bianco]

Long story short: I thought I had a water leak when my bill spiked $1,000 for 2 months in a row. A fourplex I bought in December has 1 water line so water is included in the rent. I've had 4 different plumbers (one specialized in Leak Detection) out to the building and everyone said there was no leak. I had the water company out to check the meter for a leak or malfunction and that proved to be fine too.

I didn't want to believe that it could be one of my new tenants but with everything else crossed off my list I don't know what else to think although I don't know who it is. There were 6 separate days in the month of July where someone ran the water to 3,000 gallons which is an insane amount. I actually had to do the math and that's equal to running your tub on full blast for 8 hours straight. 

I don't know what to do at this point. My Property Manager wants to tiptoe around the situation and thinks by emailing all the residents to inform them about the issue and to stop that could actually backfire especially if I've made an enemy out of a tenant or something and just don't know it. At this point I'm ready to non-renew the entire building and find new tenants but leases don't end for another 8 months.

What do I do here? I am at break-even with the water bill where it's at.

[Lynnette E.]

Have the PM monitor when the water meter is spinning and do an emergency apartment check when it is spinning.  Let the tenants know that the emergency leak detection inspections will continue until the source is found...then either they will stop or PM will find a sink that did not turn off, or a toilet linking, or like in my case, a cat that liked to play with the refrigerator water until he made a small lake in the kitchen.