HELP! Anyone successfully split from a shared water line / meter?

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HELP! Anyone successfully split from a shared water line / meter?

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Started 7 months ago by melikecheese
Latest reply from lifeliberty

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melikecheese
Merion Village
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I am wondering if anyone has had a waterline that went to another property after their Columbus Water Meter and successfully followed a process to legally turn that water off???

I have a meter from the city which meters my water, and the water that leaves my house and goes to the random house in the alley behind mine.

Here's the basic problem, I am 100% accountable for the city water bill which includes my water use, and the other properties water use, yet I have 0% authority to collect their money, turn off their water, or do anything but take it up the you know what while they don't pay me a dime (which they have not for over 8 months, including when the water usage went up 400% while they had a leak or faucets left open during remodeling, I had to turn their water off to get enough pressure to shower).

Guardian Water and Power sub-meter the other property but are no help at all. They suggested I turn off the water 3 times (failing to tell me this is illegal), only to suggest to the other property owner that they file criminal charges when I did turn off the water, even after giving the owner and tenants advanced notice that they have not paid me and I am turning it off. Legally they cannot even tell me how much money they owe me, which leaves me screwed even more.

I'm at a lose here and was hoping I could find someone who has dealt with this before I got back to calling and explaining the full story to 5 people who really don't care and just want me off the phone.

Thanks...

Posted 7 months ago #
groundrules

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add a tap downstream from your house and inject red food coloring.

Posted 7 months ago #
Chris Sherman
East Franklinton
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just turn the water off. that will force them and the city to do something else about it. do you own the own the other property? do you own the property that you live in?

Posted 7 months ago #
melikecheese
Merion Village
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Chris Sherman said:
just turn the water off. that will force them and the city to do something else about it. do you own the own the other property? do you own the property that you live in?

Yes I own the property I live in, I do not own the other property, and I received a call from Code Enforcement when I did turn the water off telling me I was breaking the law and I had to turn it back on.

That's the core problem, 100% accountable, 0% authority.

Posted 7 months ago #
groundrules

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melikecheese said:
Yes I own the property I live in, I do not own the other property, and I received a call from Code Enforcement when I did turn the water off telling me I was breaking the law and I had to turn it back on.

That's the core problem, 100% accountable, 0% authority.

I would turn it back on, but at just barely a trickle. Seems you've satisfied whatever law (however dubious) is in play here.

Posted 7 months ago #
labi
Weinland Park
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groundrules said:
I would turn it back on, but at just barely a trickle. Seems you've satisfied whatever law (however dubious) is in play here.

In conjunction with that approach, I wonder what the legality would be of your paying the plumbing costs to have your line separated from theirs. (After giving them advance notice that it was now time for the other property owner to take on the responsibility of providing water service to his/her property, of course.)

Posted 7 months ago #
FireEngine
Blacklick or Driving Park
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melikecheese said:
Yes I own the property I live in, I do not own the other property, and I received a call from Code Enforcement when I did turn the water off telling me I was breaking the law and I had to turn it back on.

That's the core problem, 100% accountable, 0% authority.

Did they tell you which law you were breaking and quote you the code numbers? If they didn't, then they didn't tell you anything. They were just spouting off something to get you to alleviate a problem so they didn't have to deal with it. Make them show you in the code where you are at fault.

Posted 7 months ago #
peter
Arena District
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Lawyer.

Posted 7 months ago #
MrStoneCutter

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I don't see how the law can force you to keep paying for their water. But if the other house does not have access to a water main then the law basically "grandfathers" the current solution to that problem. You would likely need to drop an easement and pay to have the new service installed to resolve this problem. It would have been best if this issue was taken care of when the property split but someone wasn't doing their do diligence at that time.

Posted 7 months ago #
Chris Sherman
East Franklinton
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tapping fee alone can be 20k. new service is not cheap. im serious i would have turned that shit off. find out the specific law and the penalties. i guess im just from a different mind set but i would have turned it off months ago and until a police officer or judge was threatening to arrest me it would remain off until i was paid. plain and simple. if someone was stealing from me and throwing it in my face i would be in jail by now.. you have to at least be able to take them to court?

can the city put a submeter in and create a separate account? a friend has the same thing going on with his property except no non payment issues. he owns both houses, they have separate meters and possibly separate bills.

Posted 7 months ago #
Chris Sherman
East Franklinton
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this is what you do. quit paying the water bill. let it get turned off. keep it off until the building dept makes you vacate. the whole process can take at least 4-5 months. he will pay im sure.

Posted 7 months ago #
groundrules

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the other property owes you money for services provided, right? Lien? Collections? i dunno. I still like the trickle idea- you're providing them water as required, just real shitty service.

Posted 7 months ago #
MrStoneCutter

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Had a similar situation with AEP on the farm. Another property was connected to our power meter. We hired an electrician to disconnect it. Wasn't a residence though.

Posted 7 months ago #
GCrites80s
5xNW
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So you currently are having Guardian collect their water bill for you, correct? Isn't it their job to handle collections and shutoffs for you?

Posted 7 months ago #
Static-X
Here
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At a young age I was taught manners, so I split a line, shared it with one of my buddies and we did it off a water meter.

Posted 7 months ago #
peter
Arena District
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Tapping fees are far from 20k. Contact the City:

City of Columbus
Department of Public Utilities
910 Dublin Road
Columbus, OH 43215
Office : (614) 645-8276
Email : Public Utilities

We dealt with this, but from the other side. We were the house in the back, and the house in front was vacant and the water got shut off. We had to pay to have the line tapped and run from the street. If I recall, the entire operation was around 6k including tapping.

Posted 7 months ago #
melikecheese
Merion Village
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GCrites80s said:
So you currently are having Guardian collect their water bill for you, correct? Isn't it their job to handle collections and shutoffs for you?

No, the rear house set up that account, then changed the address for where the checks should be sent to their own real estate office. Guardian would only confirm the address change and won't really even talk to me about the account because I am not on it, the account owners of the rear house wont put me on the account.

I just wanted to remind everyone how incompetent the City of Columbus Water Department is.

I have been going on over 10 months on this and no one at the department seems to no anything other then, hmm, better figure it out yourself.

So I am basically being told no we won't pay you for water by the property owner, and the city is telling me tough luck, you have to pay their bill or you don't get water.

Doesn't seem fair does it?

Posted 6 months ago #
lifeliberty
Here
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I would incrementally turn the water down over over time so it wasn't as noticeable, but not off. I could understand you getting in trouble for disconnecting service (kind of how a landlord can't just throw people out, you have to take them to court and evict them) but can you get in trouble for restricting flow? i dunno. I probably would have gotten a lawyer by now. you should be able to turn them off and make them tap into the street themselves. I don't understand how you are not being compensated by guardian for the water since they collect the fees. If you lawyer up you may be eligible for all the money you are owed. guardian should have records of how much water has been take from your line if they are metering and collecting money for it. sounds like you need a lawyer since you keep getting doors slammed in your face. it sucks no one can or will help you.

Posted 6 months ago #