My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California.
Several months ago, I moved into a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 friends. Our water/sewage bills were alarmingly high- around $80/month. I called the water company several times and they were very dismissive...they essentially told me that the water bill is calculated for the whole building and subdivided among apartments based on the number of tenants per apartment. They told me that in fact our bill should be 50% higher because their records show that 2 people are living in our apartment, instead of three! Since the estimated bill with 3 individuals was $120/month, I knew something was wrong and contacted the landlord.
After insisting several times that something was amiss, the apartment staff scheduled an inspection of the apartments. I followed up and they claimed them fixed several leaks and that our subsequent charges should be reduced. I am waiting for our next bill to see if that's the case.
Later, I found out from a neighbor that he does not even receive a water bill! I inquired about this, and the management informed me that because he moved into the building several years earlier, their contract agreement states that the landlord will pay the water bill on his behalf.
Therefore there are two options:
a) There indeed was a serious leak in the building.
b) There was NO leak in the building, and the apartment staff had not been paying the water bill on behalf of the other tenants, instead charging the water bill of the whole building among a small number of the tenants (which explains why our bill is so high).
So my questions are: in the case of a) am I entitled to be compensated for dramatically overpaying on my water bill over the last few months as a result of their maintenance issues?
And in the case of b), how should I proceed? I have asked the rental company and water company to give me information about the water bill for the entire building and how it is distributed. They agreed but did not send me anything. They do not reply to my emails anymore. Its both frustrating and suspicious. Any words of advice?

