Non-payment Water Bill taken out from rent! Atlanta, GA

[Eugene Beard]

Hello BP,

I have a situation that im not sure exactly what to do in so I hope someone in my Norcross, Gwinnett county area can give me some guidance.

Here's the story. Im not sure how to make this sorry short sorry in advance.

So this is my first property. And my first Tenant that moved in July of 2016 in my Duplex. So in August , they contact me saying they have a high water bill. They pay for water but since I kind of had issues setting up the water with the water company initially when they moved in I was happy to help.  So I inquire. the tenant tells me the bill is almost 1,000K! Now that sound ridiculous to me as i have never had a water bill that high. So we call up to the water company (I dont have access to their bill details so I have to call with them to get any real information about their account) the bill is actually 700  and after some troubleshooting ( checking the water meter outside the home, listening to running water, checking the basement for  signs of water) with them they said they will send out some one to make sure it wasn't a misread. Because there is no water running anywhere in the home. I looked around during due diligence, while previous tenants where on that side and they had no complaints. I walked through that side again after purchase saw or heard no leaks. Anyway so I tell my tenant.  "Let me know what the water company says about the reading."

I check back with her every couple of days she says no one has come. Im like okay fine. call them back and let me know what they say. she says okay. No I dont check back until September. Hey what s with the water company? she Says ," oh they came out but it wasnt on their side so it leaking from somewhere." so essentially its my responsibility. So I start making some calls to plumbers. Now I just want a free estimate to figure out there this leak is and how bad the damage is, but more importantly where it is! I make about 20 calls and figure out fairly quickly that plumbers dont really come out for free. So I schedule about three different plumbers to try to come out as soon as possible. on September 15, Sept, 22, and October 10th. Each plumber is about 50 to 80 bucks to come out and just look. 3rd plumber was contacted after the first 2 came.

1st plumber says there is no leak anywhere much less one that would constitute that high bill and that i should cal the water company back. Which I do. I asked them if they had reread the meter yet they said yes and its a water leak. I request for the to check again and they said they would comply. 2nd plumber comes. this guys says oh yeah you have a popped water expansion tanks on both sides of your units, the PRV valves are old and need to be fixed, and also her toilet seal is weak and could also let gallons seep through randomly. He says all these things should be my problem. Basically there is no leak but constant random running water coming in through the PRV when outside pressure is too high and when the toilet leaks enough it start to refill. this seems crazy but only because the first plumber caught none of this.! but what do I know. He wants to charge me about 4,000 (I dont have) to fix it all. Since I have to extremes sides I figured best course was to wait for the water company to know for sure. they again says its on my side so I call for a 3rd plumber opinion and to  get another quote on the work. so I dont just go with the first guy. 3rd plumber comes out finds the same things but says that it was the toilet leaking randomly due to the seal being old, and he fixes it right there on the spot! He has a spare valve in his truck. He says there is a small drip in the tub but that would not constitute the high bill, expansion tanks are blow, only one of my PRV valve is old( the tenants side) but it still works but I should think about getting it replaced down the line. I asked him to quote me the work anyway. He says 2 expansion tanks and a PRV would cost me about 1,000. Not including the toilet valve which is did for free. which I coulda did myself once I saw what he did.

So Since he fixed the toilet and that would have been the only thing leaking . I tell the tenant to see what the next water bill is(October bill comes in november) and let me know if it drastically gets lower.She says okay. I dont hear back all of November. December comes and the tenant calls me says her water is cut off asking me if I cut if off. I say no didnt touch it. so Im thinking something is not right.  and ask the tenant," hey did the bills come back lower " she says "oh no its still high its leaking from the tub".I respond "ok why didnt u let me know I was waiting on verification from you?" she apologies she forgot I say no worries ill check it out and call you back because she is out of town. So I call the water company  because they had to have cut off the water Im thinking because of the leak.  Now they tell me that they cannot discuss specifics because its not my account but they see I have called behalf of my tenant before so they do a overview and tell me a few things:1. that they REMOVED the 700 bill because it was a misread of the meter,2. that the water usage is abnormally high for just one person 3. that on average the water usage has not really gone down over the past 2 months, and 4.that my tenant has not paid since July when they first turned it on that is why they cut of the water. Now im upset the the initial reason all this started was removed and  was not informed. but Im not on the account so that goes back to the tenant who I now know through this process cant depends on updates.

So since the water is cut off now her parents are involved upset that a "leak" and high water bill have not been resolved since august and now they have a "400" water bill to pay for! Trying not to  cuss them out, I explain that the original 700 was removed so there should be no real issue here.. Her mom says that  "something" has been leaking since they got there and that  its been the cause of the high bill and I said I was going to get it resolved back in October and I had not done so. So because of this she is going to withhold rent in the amount that they have to pay until the leak is resolved.In this case they had to pay 250 to get the water turned back on. So I look up to see if she can do this and she can. She can withhold rent until repairs are made. I call the water company and they tell me that  the tenants should have been paying partial payment to keep the water going but the situation is understandable. I probably would not pay either until I knew how much my water bill really is, but at the same time I would pay ten 20 bucks because I know its at least that. They didnt pay at all. The water company tells me though that once I get all the repairs done I can send in the repair bill and they will reduce the water bill.So I get everything done. I replace the expansion tanks, PRV valve, and tub leak, cost me about 900 dollars all around. I send that bill o the water company and to the tenants parents ,stating that I have completed repairs so she HAS to pay the remaining balance of the rent now. I got no response from the mom the father thanked me for getting the work complete. the water company sent me and email back stating that they would not reduce the bill due to the account being in deliquency and that the water usage was not high enough to constitute a reduction(basically saying the usage was normal). I send emails back and forth with this guys stating what I was told and so on but he didnt budge. Not exactly my problem I was just trying to close the loop.My problem is the 250. All of this was December. 

Now its January 1st. Mindfully this tenant always pays on the 5th. I sent a reminder email on the 2nd to the mom that said she has to pay the 250 and  regular rent because work was completed.she replies ans says this, "Since August the water bill was high,  the leak was shown to you, and since August no work was done ,with my research water usage should only me 30 a month or less and the water company agrees with me.But you believe my daughter should pay the regular rent, the 250 for water overages and the 150 remaining balance for water? I do not agree. the repairs were not made due to negligence of the tenant so no other payment other than rent is warranted. the amount of the water bill was deducted and  as always payment will be on time."

My question is should I let this go as they paid on time for January on time in full but the 250 is still  remaining?

Thanks for reading all of this. Im sure half of it is irrelevant.