WATER BILL

[rubison]

What is the name of your state? ALABAMA
I am single living in an Apartment Complex. My water bill is calculated based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms that I have, which is a @BR/1Bath.
The entire Complex Water Bill is divided up and sent to each resident. We never get to see exactly how this is calculated and there are no individual meters to read/apartment. I have contacted several of my friends living in houses and their water bill seems much lower than mine. Mine has often been between $50-$90/month. Do I have any rights to require the Complex Management to show me the details of the bill and how my particular bill is calculated? I have mentioned the high water bills to Management a couple of times and I just get some run-around. I believe that the Complex is making some extra money on these water bills, but have no way to prove this without access to information. Thanks.

 

[STEPHAN]

What does your lease say?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? ALABAMA
I am single living in an Apartment Complex. My water bill is calculated based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms that I have, which is a @BR/1Bath.
The entire Complex Water Bill is divided up and sent to each resident. We never get to see exactly how this is calculated and there are no individual meters to read/apartment. I have contacted several of my friends living in houses and their water bill seems much lower than mine. Mine has often been between $50-$90/month. Do I have any rights to require the Complex Management to show me the details of the bill and how my particular bill is calculated? I have mentioned the high water bills to Management a couple of times and I just get some run-around. I believe that the Complex is making some extra money on these water bills, but have no way to prove this without access to information. Thanks.

If they are dividing up the entire water bill between the residents then you may be paying for common area, grounds keeping and office use of water as well.

 

[adjusterjack]

Do I have any rights to require the Complex Management to show me the details of the bill and how my particular bill is calculated?

Nope, not unless your lease gives you that right. Does it?

 

[izzie02]

Sounds excessive to me. Have a 3 bdrm/2 bath sf home with yard, 3 adults. My city water bill approx $120-160 every three months. Not excessive water costs in my city, about medium. How is it written in your lease for water? Is this new way they recently started to bill. If they won't show you the actual bill maybe you can get it from the city itself. Ask the complex how figure bill for other units, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom etc.

 

[rubison]

If they are dividing up the entire water bill between the residents then you may be paying for common area, grounds keeping and office use of water as well.

That may be the case. We have a pool, so I imagine that is included in the overall bill. The bill is not calculated on an individual case/residents/apartment. I have a 2 BR but pay more than 2 people living in a 1 BR. Common sense tells one that 2 people use more water than 2 most always.

 

[LdiJ]

Sounds excessive to me. Have a 3 bdrm/2 bath sf home with yard, 3 adults. My city water bill approx $120-160 every three months. Not excessive water costs in my city, about medium. How is it written in your lease for water? Is this new way they recently started to bill. If they won't show you the actual bill maybe you can get it from the city itself. Ask the complex how figure bill for other units, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom etc.

My water bill is in that range every month. However, I also have 8 people living in my home.

 

[STEPHAN]

They can have a different way to calculate it for every apartment. What does your lease say?

 

[FarmerJ]

apportioned re billing is acceptable in many places BUT your state may have some rules about it regarding disputes , so try your states public utility commission to learn if they can direct you to where those rules are so you can read them your self , It may take some research but you should be able to find out if any laws were written to address this. the sucky thing about apportioning is that every tenant pays for the shower queen of the north who takes obscenely long showers or the neighbor who insist that kitty must have fresh water to drink so they leave a bathtub faucet on a slight trickle 24 / 7 / 365