My parents live in a house that has been converted to a quadplex. The lease states that each apartment is responsible for their own electricity based on readings from four meters. There are only two water meters though, one for each half of the house, so my parents and the person directly above them are responsible for one water bill while the people next door are responsible for another one. The lease says my parents and the tenant above them will each pay half as there is no way to determine exact usage.
I’ve thought this guy was shady from day one and I hate this set up but my mom has two small dogs which made it difficult for them to find housing. Anyway…
The water and electric bills are both in the landlord’s name and he brings the bills to the tenants. He brought the recent water bill to my dad the other day and has written on it that my parents will pay $45.xx and the upstairs tenant will pay $29.xx, the rationale being that the upstairs tenant is “never home” (not true, I see her here all the time) and that my parents have lots of company (true, they have a few children and several grandchildren in the same town and we visit a lot; nobody is taking showers here or running water really at all, so this reasoning is stupid) so their usage MUST exceed the other tenant’s. My feelings are “Too fucking bad, the lease says you each pay half without mentioning usage at all.” She’s afraid they’ll be evicted if they don’t pay it as he says they should. I told her don’t pay more than half ever, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
I’m not sure where to tell her to go. I told her to get a consultation with an attorney but I don’t know that she will because she knows she can’t afford to actually hire anybody. I don’t know what else to tell her. Or what to tell her to tell him (“Eat shit” is the best I can come up with, but I don’t think that’s helpful…).
I agree that you don’t want to go to a lawyer over $8.00 per month. Instead, your mother should inform her landlord that she will pay the amount stipulated in the lease, namely one-half of the water bill. And if the landlord attempts any adverse action, she will sue for his breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment.
My back of the envalope math at quarterly billing and $1.41 per 100 cubic feet (my price) says your parents are paying for an extra 93 gallons per day. I’d show that to the landlord and ask him to justify it. Make sure he understands that sure, your parents have guests over, but no one is taking showers (probably the only way to add an extra 90 gallons per day). Besides, it was his idea to only install two meters instead of four. That, or ask him exactly how he came up with that number.
Also, if splitting the water bill in half is in the lease, I’d just pay half and let him figure it out. There’s not much he could do about it. OTOH, he might not renew their lease when it’s up.
I should probably mention that if he installed 4 water meters, your parents would likely be paying more anyways. I pay $15 every 4 months for the meter itself.
Something he could do is install his own water meter for the second floor in the basement. Charge each floor for the actual water used (and sewer charges, likely based on water usage) and split the other charges that are on the bill in half.
I would love to see the landlord trying to evict them for complying with the lease terms. That could be amusing - the kind of case that really breaks up the day for the court staff.
If it were me, I’d just hand him a check for exactly half, and if he mentions anything about paying 2/3rds, I’d just furrow my brow and look confused, and pretend to consult the lease again, and say, “Gee, it says right here I am supposed to pay half. Not 2/3rds. You must have been mistaken. Here you go!”
Is he charging a pet surcharge? Many landlords would, and it would be a heck of lot more than $ 8 a month. If this is not the hill you, or your parents, want to die on, you you may want to let it go.
The Landlord had the opportunity to provide a lease that split the water bill in another way, by number of occupants, as in 2/3 for your parents and 1/3 for the other person, but he didn’t. He made the choice to write up his lease as dividing the bill by number of units, 1/2 and 1/2. HE chose to do this. HE offered the lease at those terms. There is nothing in the lease that says anyone has to be home a certain amount of time in order to owe part of the bill. He doesn’t have the right to change the terms at whim.
It’s not so much about the $8 as it is he made a poor decision and expects your mom to pick up the bill when he was the one who laid out the terms that she and everyone else agreed to.
I say continue to pay half, and if he wants to renegotiate that portion of the lease when it’s up for renewal, deal with it them
Yup. He can’t evict them for sticking to the letter of their lease. If he tries to start eviction proceedings, he’ll get laughed the fuck out of the sheriff’s office.
He may not renew for their next lease, but do they really want to keep renting from this asshole anyway?