Shared Water Line Between Houses - and Owner of Other Property is Renting to Tenants

[dp92188]

As I said, the engineer at Development services for the city looked at the configuration and said I wouldn’t be able to just do a water meter split.

@adjusterjack thank you for your input. I will say this was my first house purchase and I didn’t know everything I was doing. I had a Redfin agent who, looking back, was not very good but at the time I felt rushed because I had already backed out of another deal which wasted 3 weeks of my time and I was being forced out of my old apartment because the building was being sold.

Very little attention was given to the fact that this was condo and part of a “condo association” even though there is no HOA. During the final walk-through of the house the owner did mention “the water is shared” and it did put red flags off in my head but as I said I was in a bind and just thought I would figure it out later.

So the water bill hovers around $360-400+ every two months which comes out to about $180-200 a month. Both houses use 300-350 gallons per day according to the bill. They say the average person uses 80-100 gallon a day which is why I thought my argument to pay 1/3 is fair.

I’m looking into the process of installing a separate water line so we’ll see where things go from there. Thanks for your input.

[budwad]

I guess you didn't understand what I posted in post #10. It may not make any difference that you have a condo situation.

If you are connected to a public water system, then there would be an ordinance for the city you live in. Did you look it up or not?

The engineer you spoke to is not an attorney for the city. He doesn't get to decide what the law says. If your city has an ordinance that says every dwelling on the public water system must have their own meter then you can compel your neighbor to pay for it. I'm not talking about a split. I'm saying that your neighbor will have to install a line from the public main to his house.

Do you understand that now?

Post your city and I'll find the ordinance for you.

[MaltbyMark]

Just what is a split water meter? Put a private sub-meter on private land downstream of your house. Then one could figure out how much volume each house is using

[budwad]

Most public water systems don't allow you to split a water line. That means that each dwelling must have it's own corporation into the water main. A corporation is a direct connection to the main that feeds a water meter. So you can't take a corporation from one dwelling and split it to service another dwelling.

In the case of multiple dwellings that are served by one corporation, each unit must have their own meter.

OP says that he and his neighbor are in a condo association. But they are two separate properties. Thus there is nothing that connects the op's property to the neighbor's property. They are still separate dwellings.

[MaltbyMark]

The present law may not be applicable due to grandfathering. There's undoubtedly multiple locations that a private sub meter could be installed and a quantitative answer that would end this issue could be had.

[budwad]

I don't think you are correct. Any sub-meter as you call it has no enforcement through a utility. It would be between landowners and landlords. But if there is an ordinance of the jurisdiction that says every doweling connected to a public water system must have their own meter, then that is the law.

The reasoning is that the utility can't shut off water to someone that is not paying for water.

In the present case, if OP doesn't pay the water bill the neighbor's water could be turned off. If the landlord of the neighboring property doesn't pay the water bill, then OP's water may be turned off .

What we don't yet know is in who's name is the utility bill titled. Is it OP or is it the neighbor, or is it something else.

[MaltbyMark]

I don't think you are correct. Any sub-meter as you call it has no enforcement through a utility. It would be between landowners and landlords. But if there is an ordinance of the jurisdiction that says every doweling connected to a public water system must have their own meter, then that is the law.

I realize that a private sub-meter is between the parties and the utility has nothing to do with it.

My point, is that the law is unlikely to be retro-active, and we don't know when it was inacted and when the condo (such as it is) was built. The several of the condos that I have built or been an officer of (albeit in a different state) only had one master meter.

[budwad]

There are no doubt countless of developments with associations that have master water meters billed to the associations. And where the association apportions the individual unit water use based on the number of bedrooms in the unit through monthly maintenance fees. The same would be true for landlords and apartment buildings where water usage is based on the number of persons on the lease or bedrooms in the apartment.

But what I don't understand in OP's post is who is the water account billed to. He/she says that there is a condo situation where there are only two properties but no association. So who pays the bills of this none-association? What or who is in control of determining who pays what on the water bill?