Didn't pay the water bill

[PepperElf]

Not my company but... the landlord of the building we rent our lab / office space out of.

Not sure what the landlord does with the rent money. But apparently it doesn't include paying the water bill.


Thankfully local laws have changed this year. It use to be that the shut-off notices were sent out via certified mail but... tenants didn't always get them, and they'd find out about the issue the day the water stopped working. Now, the shut-off notice has to be posted publicly, and the tenants are given the right to attend a hearing regarding the issue.

And - from what I read out of an old news article - if the landlord is unresponsive, the tenants have the right to pay off the water bill in lieu of paying rent.



So far we've been joking about it, suggesting that we're going to install some porta-potties, maybe bring in some large water bottles. The coffee addicts might have a hard time of it though.

still... yeah. that kinda sucks. been looking on line to see who actually owns the building to see what their malfunction is. heh.

[Andara Bledin]

Shouldn't the account holder of record be noted somewhere on the notice of non-payment?

Otherwise, you should be able to get ownership information from the city/county, I'd think.

^-.-^

[AtDIelement]

The coffee addicts might have a hard time of it though.

I would go nuts without coffee... I barely made it through the first hour today, and that was WITH three cups of coffee.

I don't know what I would do.

[TheSHAD0W]

Even if you can't pay the water bill don't pay the rent. Unless landlord tenant relations are different for non-residential buildings you have the right to hold the rent if the landlord has something major like no water to take care of. Open a new bank account and put the rent money in that every month until the water is taken care of to show that you were willing to pay the rent if not for the issue

Uh, no, no, and doubly no. This will get you evicted in many localities. Bad idea.

If it *does* get to that point, you will have to get an attorney involved; he can place funds intended to pay for rent into an escrow account and can pay water bills and such out of that account without jeopardizing your lease.