Sprinklers are expensive to run, especially if you don't notice them while they stay on for a long period of time. Is it up to the tenants or the landlord to deal with them causing a massive water bill?
AITA for wanting my tenants to pay for the huge water bill due to lawn sprinklers?
A landlord posted on Reddit about their tenants getting a high water bill. The bill was up to $5000 after some lawn sprinklers went off for about 3 months in a row. The tenants don't think they should have to pay the bill since they said they didn't cause the problem.
The water bill is in the name of the tenants but they think that because the sprinklers went off on their own, the landlord should have to pay the bill. The water company sent a warning that said that they were using an abnormal amount of water, but that was a little late so the tenants found out after 3 months what was happening.
When a water bill needs to be paid, it's usually important for the people to pay it that have their name on the bill. If you don't pay your water bill, you run the risk of getting your water shut off which would be a problem for the tenants.
When the landlord found out about the problem, they had a plumber come out to shut them off. The landlord says in their post that they didn't know the property even had sprinklers and that they don't know how their tenants even got them to turn on.
A commenter said that the issue probably was a solenoid that malfunctioned and caused the sprinklers to come on. If that is the case, then many commenters think that the landlord should have to pay the bill since the tenants didn't have anything to do with the sprinklers turning on.
The landlord thinks that the tenants should've noticed the sprinklers going off before it got as bad as it did. The sprinklers went off for 3 months straight but the tenants didn't notice even though they were home on a regular basis.
According to the landlord, the tenants have good jobs and can afford to pay the bill the next time they get their paychecks. The landlord is also able to foot the bill if need be, but they didn't know what to do an decided to ask the internet for their advice.
Water bills can get high when you use sprinklers, especially if you live in an area where the cost of water is high. 3 months of running water is going to cost a lot for anyone and if there were a handful of sprinkler heads then it's easy to see why the bill got so high.
Do you think that the landlord should have to pay the bill since the sprinklers went off on their own? Should the tenants pay for it since they didn't notice the problem for so long and because their names are on the bill?
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