Paying the Water Bill vs. Sewer and Maintenance

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Pennsylvania

Hi. I'm currently renting a house. The landlord has contacted us to pay the water bill. She told us it was $70. We were shocked that the bill could possibly be that high so I told her to send a copy of the bill to us. We received it today and found out that she is trying to make us pay the entire bill (Usage, Service, and Sewage). We've never encountered that at any place we've rented before. We have always paid the Usage part and the landlord dealt with the rest. So I called the landlord and told her that it does not say, in our lease, that we pay for Sewage Fees and Maintenance. Those two items are not checked. The items that are checked, for us to pay, are Hot and Cold water, which we figure is the Usage part. She never told us we would be responsible for the entire bill. Of course she didn't want to hear that and she said that the lease doesn't say that and we can move out if we don't like it. She hung up on me and, when I try to call back, she yells that she doesn't want to talk about the water bill and hangs up.

My questions are:

Are we in the wrong?
Can we request to talk to the owner of the property, which the bill is in the name of?
If we send the check for the amount of the Usage, can she try to say we have breached the lease?
Can we report her for not trying to talk this situation out?
Should we pay the entire bill, this time, and try to contact the owner to settle this matter?

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We have always paid the Usage part and the landlord dealt with the rest. So I called the landlord and told her that it does not say, in our lease, that we pay for Sewage Fees and Maintenance. Those two items are not checked. The items that are checked, for us to pay, are Hot and Cold water, which we figure is the Usage part

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are there lines in the lease for sewage fees and maintenance and they are not checked?

Yes, there are boxes to be checked for those options. They are not checked.

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Quoting Philly428

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Yes, there are boxes to be checked for those options. They are not checked.

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Then you just send her a check for the usage portion.

Mark your check something like "water usage per lease" and photo copy the check before you send it.

You always pay the undisputed amount. Otherwise you are in default and can be evicted for non-payment while you are arguing about what to pay.

Just make sure you keep the bill and the lease in your permanent records.

Thank you very much for the quick responses. I had intended to do that but I wanted be reassured that it was the right course of action. Once again, thank you.

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One more thing, I wanted to send a letter with the check, since the LL obviously will not talk to us. Is this appropriate?

"To whom it may concern,

Enclosed is a payment for the water bill as per our lease. On lines 99 and 100 of the lease, the options for the tenant to pay the Sewage Fees and Sewer Maintenance are not checked. There was also no verbal agreement that these fees would be paid. The only fees that were agreed upon were for the Hot Water and Cold Water (Lines 96 and 97 of the lease). If there are any disputes, please have the owner of the property contact us at the given numbers."

I doubt they will involve the owner since, after all, as property managers, dealing with issues such as this is what they are being paid for but the remainder sounds fair.

Ok, thanks.

Quote:

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Quoting Philly428

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I wanted to send a letter with the check, since the LL obviously will not talk to us. Is this appropriate?

"To whom it may concern,

Enclosed is a payment for the water bill as per our lease. On lines 99 and 100 of the lease, the options for the tenant to pay the Sewage Fees and Sewer Maintenance are not checked. There was also no verbal agreement that these fees would be paid. The only fees that were agreed upon were for the Hot Water and Cold Water (Lines 96 and 97 of the lease). If there are any disputes, please have the owner of the property contact us at the given numbers."

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Yeah, I'd go with that.

Just to explain to jk, the reason I wanted to deal with the owner and not the property manager is because we've had a problem with this person before and the situation only got resolved because we talked to the owner. They are family. We just forgot to save the owner's number when we talked or we would have been bypassed the property manager and this problem probably would be solved already.

Not saying you are wrong to want to escalate this to the owner. Just saying don't be upset if it doesn't go there since the owner is paying these management folks so they do not have to deal with tenants. If it works, then great.