All Forum Posts by: Matt Fitzgerald

 The water bill is always in the owners name in Boston, not in the tenants name.  It has always been my understanding that the owner has to pay the water bill and while it may be possible to charge for water, I have never heard of any tenant in Boston getting charged for water. 

@Andrew Cameron thank you for commiserating!  Hopefully someone will know of a solution or has tried the product I referenced.

One of my biggest peeves is a steep water bill.  I hate when toilets run or in one case overflowed and tenants don't tell me about it.  Has anyone ever used an auto shut off valve when a leak is detected? Specifically I'm looking at this one

http://aquaone.com/category/toilet-guardian-products/ Any pros or cons that you've experienced?  Thanks.

@Clayton Barnes thanks for the ideas.  I've changed the guts in the toilets for sure.  I'm just being a little proactively paranoid in case this happens again.

Hi All, 

I recently had my rental property's water bill spike and have had an accidental flood in the past year.  Both where due to toilets.  One toilet was running and the other overflowed. 

My question - Does anyone know of a solution, tool or part, that will stop the toilet if a leak is detected (assume that no one is home when these issues occur)?

Thanks,

Matt
Boston, MA

@Chad Clanton

Thanks for the tips!

Hi, can anyone point me to the Massachusetts (Boston specifically) building code for 3-season rooms?  What I'm looking for specifically is: 

• What defines a three season room?
• What crosses the line of making a three season room into additional living space?
• Can three season rooms have electricity?
• Can three season rooms have a heating source, like a gas fireplace?

I'm in the process of redoing an existing 3 season room attached to my house and the inspector told me if I had a gas fireplace, it needs to be converted to living space.  I'd like to find out more information on this requirement.  Why can't I add a heating source to a 3 season room?  

Thanks for any and all insight. 

-Matt

I agree about the YouTube comment. I have very basic handyman skills and I was able to replace a garbage disposal in one of my units after watching a video about it. 

I'm looking at a multifamily property in Boston, MA and it says "This home is a legal 2-family but used as a single family with a 1 bedroom in law apartment."  When I look the property up on the city of Boston assessing site has it classified as "101 (Residential Property / SINGLE FAM DWELLING)"

I'd like to purchase this property and rent it out as two apartments.  Is there anything I should be aware of, or look out for?  What does it mean its a legal 2-family, but used as a single family? 

Thanks!

@Aaron Montague thank you for the sanity check.  I've been seeing the trends you mention and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.   I remember working int he brownstones in the south end back in the late 90's as a laborer during college breaks and thinking the prices were outrageous, but they were nothing compared to what they are now.   I've noticed the prices of places in Neponset and Savin Hill seem to higher than what I thought they should be.   Thanks again.