Tricky situation - water usage by one owner

Hello All,

I am on the President in a very small Condo association. There are only five units, and our fees are based on square foot. One of the units has a small patch of land attached to it, and is not common area, it is part of their property. THe square footage of the land part is not considered in the HOA fee assessment.

This year there was a huge increase in our water bill for the June-July-August timeframe. The whole building is on one water meter. Not coincidentally, the owner with the land has undertaken an ambitious landscaping project, conplete with irrigation hoses. We obviously know why the water bill spiked (and assume the upcoming sewer bill will spike, as well). We have had the Water Dept inspect for leaks, and confirmed none of the units have leaky faucets or toilets, etc. Summer water usage is normally a little higher in the summer (power-washing the building, washing the decks, etc. as well as some watering) - but nothing like this past summer.

The other memmbers or the Board want to present all the numbers to the group and make a motion that this tenant pay for the extra water use. It sounds reasonable, but I expect to have a fight on our hands as everyone but that tenant will vote for it. But getting payment will be another matter (I can hear the arguments already), so I'm hesitant even to go that route.

Has anyone ever had a similar situation, or have any advice?

It looks like you have 4 out of 5 owners behind you, simply put. I would change the CC&R's to individually meeter each unit. DONE.

Susan,
If you go to the meter and see if you see 5 pipes all coming out of the building and are all connected together and going into the large water meter then you can call the Service provider ask them about separating into separate meters.

The jump is a solid $200 over the same timeframe in prior years. There was always a small jump in water for that time frame, but this owner really amped up the water use this year - irrigation, and such. We just feel it is excessive and we shouldn't have to absorb it year over year. THere are only 5 of us in one builing - so five owners fees keeping the entire building and property going. Really watching our pennies and trying to be fair to all..

Your board cannot lawfully just make a motion for the owner of the unit with the land to pay whatever estimate your HOA has for her or his share of the water bill. Instead your HOA has to amend your governing documents. What do your governing documents say about amending? Else I agree that metering the one spigot that this one owner uses to irrigate his/her land is the way to go. Put this in the amendment too.

I have relatives in Newton MA who added a separate meter for irrigation. Water that goes through the new meter does not get billed for sewer. Cost of installation recovered in around 3 years.

Does your city have a program like this?

Yes, the land is at the back of the building. We all see it as part of our 'view'. I foresee that this owner will expect us to pay for additional water as she 'is expected' to keep the land in a reasonable condition - as you would any neighbor..But we feel the water usage was way over and above what's needed to keep it looking acceptable.

I just want to thank everyone for their comments and advice. This board is awesome!! I see now that separate meters is the way to go. Due to cost, probably just the submeter on 'their' spigot. And amending our bylaws!

If I were you I would let it go and just have the HOA pay it or put in separate meters for each unit.  Before the bill went up you don't know if the water was being charged fairly.  You don't know which unit was using more and which was using less.  Maybe this person has always been paying more than their fair share.  In any case because you don't have separate meters this is something you have to accept.  Talk to the person about conserving water but making them pay extra is probably opening the HOA up to more problems than it is worth.  You all get the benefits of the nice landscaping.  If you just meter the spigot I could see someone hooking up a hose from in their unit or just running water in their unit to be spiteful.  Short of separating the meters there is no way to be sure units are paying for just their usage and to meter just the outside spigot would be unfair.  You either do all usage based billing or split it evenly.  The next thing will be charging units for water based on number of people in the unit.