The owner of this house bought a cheap water heater, which lasted 3 years, so u can imagine what a cheap-a$$ water heater tank it is. I want to say it leaked at least one whole tank, which is like 60 gals? Our water bill is going to be really expensive. He is getting another one installed today. Question is, who pays for the excess water?! Can I file it with my renters insurance or does he pay? I live in Bergen county nj. And I'm so pissed!
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Do you have renter's insurance, maybe check there?
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@looch: yeah, I do, never used it hehe. I think that's where I need to start. Now if I can only find the policy.
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I'm surprised you pay for water in a rental situation! crazy! I would speak with the owner and explain that you are not in a position to pay the water bill this month. See if he offers to pay it, if not file a claim with your renters insurance or his homeowners insurance.
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@psw27: we rent a house. We pay all utilities. And we also pay the first 100 in repairs which I think is ridiculous, but supposedly that's what they do in nj. Can't wait to buy our own house ugh.
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That sucks, I'm sorry! I remember when ours burst and it was such a pita.
But...60 gallons shouldn't really be that expensive, though I'm not sure how your utilities bill. Ours bill in units of 100 cubic feet for typically $3-7/unit. 100 cf is 748 gal. So it should really only be a few dollars in extra water from my math. May not be worth the hassle.
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@tequiero21: I would wait and get the bill and then approach the landlord. They should pay it if there was nothing you as the tenant could do (like if it burst suddenly).
I'm a landlord and had a water issue that made me really pissed at my tenants. There was a running toilet that they never told me about (SUPER easy fix). They just let it run all month, which created a $500 water bill for me, when it's normally about 25. I FLIPPED. Of course. But I just worded an extremely nice (too nice, really, given the cost to me) notice saying that in the future any problems that they don't notify me about will be charged to them.
But I still paid that $500 bill myself, even though I think legally I could have made them pay it.
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@tequiero21 - dang! That stinks! In Boston the LL pays water and sewer. Usually we pay heat and electric. Definitely no repairs either! Ugh so sorry you have to deal with this, what a pain! My water heater died this week too... there goes a quick $1,000 down the drain.
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@tequiero21: Oh, I've also had a water heater burst and the water bill wasn't much higher.
But you may be screwed in this situation because if the water bill is in your name, you are expected to pay it. You can take your landlord to small claims court and try to prove they were negligent in the maintenance of the house--but if they weren't negligent and it was just an accident, you are liable because the bill is in your name. This will also depend on your landlord (do they own tons of properties and care only about the bottom line or is this someone like me that just rents out one property and might be nicer?)
A lot to consider.
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We had a major hot water heater leak, and eventual replacement, in our rental last year. The landlords paid for everything and even took money off of our rent because it turned into such an inconvenience (it leaked so bad we had to have 80% of the carpet in our house replaced).
ETA: I don't think our bill went up a noticeable amount.
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@MerryC: hmmm I'm going to have to check, but I thought we used only like 16 gal and the bill came out to over 500 bux. Will have to look up the bill.
@psw27: ugh, sorry u have to deal with that.
I was a landlord too and I hated fixing everything but we did it. I hate that my hubby and I keep getting the short end of the stick. When we rented out in va, landlord pays everything unless it's their fault. Here, we have to lay the first 100. Frustrating.
@Anagram: I think this guy wanted to sell this house and it didn't get sold, so we are renting it. Don't think he manages other properties. He's not very good at it.
@fussygal: wow, great landlords!
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