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Quote Quoting frankc
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Ok, if the boro holds me responsible for the prior tennants water bill, didn't they have an obligation to me to notify me when the bill is past due? I had no way of knowing the situation. The original arrangements were made with the boro and the tennant. How fair is it to let the bill run up into hundreds of dollars without notfication? $352 is not just a few months late! Had I been notified after just a few months, I could have applied pressure to the tennant to pay. Seems like the boro failed to notify me, let the bill run up in the hundreds, and now demand I pay the entire bill. Whats up with that???
I had the same discussion with the town, and their position at the time is if I go ahead and have the tenant be billed directly, and pay directly, it is my responsibility to find out if the bills are paid. Understand that adding requirements can also run up charges.

I'm in NYC, and for a typical 2 family, the water and sewer for a 3 month period runs $200 to $300 dollars, so it does not look like that large of a bill to me, though it may be so in PA. One of the things I was told is that in NYC, they ran into the same arguments with owners that you raised which is why they sent an agreement to all property owners to sign saying owners are responisble if the tenant does not pay. At the time, there were no procedures in place to notify owners if the tenants didn't pay.

My suggestion to you is if it is a municiple utility, get after your representative, and have their billings modified so owners also get a copy, or notiification of non payment. I work at a senior facility, and we help our clients file with the local utilities so they'll issue third party notifications, which is common with seniors. Now, the law had to be changed because utilities were sayng they are not legally allowed to send communications to other parties other than the "bill to" party due to privacy issues. They may or may not have such a procedure where you are, so check to see if they have third party notification.

In my case, I found it simpler to pay it, then bill the tenant rather than getting into an argument with the town. Interestingly, the town now notifies owners when the utility sends them a notice after water bills are not paid, and would be transferred to my tax bill if not paid in 30 days. I dropped the ball on the water bill last year and I got the notice. This didn't happen years back, so that could their new way of notifying owners.