Leaking toilet

I know a couple who recently got a $1600 water bill for one of the properties they own. Here in Milwaukee the water is cheap enough that land lords often just include it in the rent.

Due to sewage and lead pipe replacement charges it's gone from maybe $25 a month (many years ago) to $60 and is billed quarterly. My last bill was $175.

When one of the owners investigated it seemed the tenant had a leaking toilet and never bother to inform the land lord! Still the $1600 bill seemed very high. I guess the toilet was running pretty fast but ...wow.

Hopefully they kicked the tenant out and and did not refund the security deposit...but is there any recourse for them?

My guess is "no" but had the utility billed once a month like all companies do...the problem would have been caught a lot sooner.

Reply to
philo
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In California where the politicians refuse to spend any money on added water capacity and the environuts seem to think we can save water by decreasing our consumption to zero, water bills often have tiered rates. If you use a thimble of water per day the rate is reasonable, if you use a cup a day you get knocked to a higher rate. There are often several tiers.

When this sort of thing has happened as a one time occurrence, the water companies will review your request for a bill reduction and bill you for all your water use in the lowest tier. You are still ;paying for all your water, but not at the higher tier rates.

Reply to
Taxed and Spent

Was there a maximum water usage clause in the rental agreement?

Reply to
HeyBob

I doubt things here in Wisconsin are the same but I told them to talk to a supervisor at the water utility

Reply to
philo

No, but I bet there will be for the next tenant!

Reply to
philo

The water bill for this "toilet leak" incident was probably insignificant compared to rest of the cost:

A young couple bought the house across the street from mine. They stayed in their apartment while they did some renovations. On the Thursday before Labor Day the bathroom contractor installed a new toilet in the upstairs bathroom. They locked up the house and left town for the long weekend.

Nobody knows exactly when the fill hose popped off the bottom of the toilet, but when they stopped by the house on Monday afternoon, the water was running out the back door. Parts of the hardwood floors on the first and second floors had to be replaced, all the kitchen cabinets (less than 4 years old) had to be replaced, drywall and insulation R&R, the list goes on and on. Pumps for the water in the basement, dehumidifier rentals, etc.

To add insult to injury, the lease was up on their apartment so they had to move. They ended up in Mom's basement...not the ideal situation for a young couple but much cheaper than a month-to-month rental.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Had a similar situation at work. Twice. We have about 22 toilets around the plant and one was running. I found it out by monthly meter readings. It was in a little used bathroom and not making any noise.

My guess is the landlord is SOL.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

depends on what the lease says.

Reply to
Taxed and Spent

Oh my!!!

Reply to
philo

You are probably right, guess they have learned a lesson.

Reply to
philo

I am quite sure the lease did not cover this situation.

Reply to
philo

That toilet must have been running full force around the clock. Even then that seems like an excessive bill. That meter should be checked for accuracy.

That tenant must be a total idiot to leave a toilet running that much. Almost a total moron should be able to replace a $2 toilet flapper.

Do they still have lead pipes around there? I thought those were all gone by the end of the 20th century, if not a lot sooner.....

Reply to
Paintedcow

Renter's don't typically repair the landlord's plumbing. I've seen leases where it was stated that the tenants were not allowed to "make any changes, including repairs".

Should they have told the landlord? Sure...but if they aren't paying for water, maybe they just didn't care or even realize the cost. If they've always been renters, and water has always been included, they could be ignorant of the cost. That doesn't make them ignorant.

I guess you never heard of Flint.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

What makes you say that?

Reply to
Taxed and Spent

Because the owner stated she was going to have to pay the bill

Reply to
philo

Hopefully the owner will kick the tenant out, not refund the security deposit and make the tenant is responsible for all utilities.

Yes. Milwaukee still has lead pipes.

After the situation in Flint...the city rapidly started replacing lead "mains" but still there are thousands of "main to house" lead pipes.

Since I have lead pipes here I had the water tested 35 years ago when I moved in. First they had me use no water at all for 12 hours. Once they had a sample they had me "run 'til cold" and test again.

They found a small trace of lead in the standing water but none in the "run to cold" test.

Since for my job I worked with lead-acid batteries the company had my blood tested twice a year. The lead content was essentially zero.

As a precaution though I have a filter on the kitchen sink.

Reply to
philo

Back in my day when My friends and I rented it never occurred to us to ask the land lord as we knew it would probably never get done...or if so it would probably raise the rent...so we did our own repairs. Though we were a bunch of drunken low-lifes we would have fixed a leaking toilet

In those days we were pretty wild and left the apartments in bad shape ...so we never bothered to ask for our security deposit either.

Reply to
philo

You mentioned one of the reasons in the second paragraph. It's not just billed for water usage. Sewer billing is tied to water usage, so when the amount of water used goes up, the amount charged for sewer goes up, too.

My elderly mom lives with me. One day this past summer she turned on the water tap in the basement laundry tubs and then walked away and forgot all about it. It ran all day until I got home and turned it off. The faucet didn't run full force, but still, that single-day usage increased my quarterly bill (water + sewer) by 25%.

Reply to
Moe DeLoughan

Shame on you !

Reply to
Paintedcow

I'd like to try to figure out how much water was actually used to cost $1600.

How much water (by gallon) did you get, for your $175 bill?

Once I know this, I'll divide the amount of water by 175. That will tell how much water you get for ONE DOLLAR. Then I'll multiply that amount by

1600 to determine the amount of gallons of water that were actually used.

From there, it's a matter of figuring out how much water can a fully running toilet (24/7) actually consume in about 90 days. (I'm not exactly sure how to figure this out).

Either way, it would be fun to figure out how much water this tenant actually used to cost $1600.

Reply to
Paintedcow

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