Water clarity

A landlord complained to us that his municipality had put his tenant’s unpaid water and wastewater charges on his property tax bill, without notifying him in advance. He told us he was frustrated because he could not obtain detailed information about the water account – which was in the tenant’s name – and his requests to have the tenant’s water disconnected over the unpaid bills were ignored.

RESULT: We made inquiries and learned the municipality had no written policies regarding water billing and that its general practice was to add arrears to a property owner’s tax account without advance notification. We discussed best practices with the municipality regarding consistent, fair and transparent billing practices to prevent similar situations in future. It has taken over responsibility for water billing and has since adopted a policy outlining its collection processes.