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City turns off water

Arcal

Bronze Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2009
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What do you do when your own city turns off the water because of none payment. California uses the 1997 Uniform Housing Code which considers a house substandard if it has no water. Even the International Property Maintenance Code requires houses to have potable water. So, I am notified that the water has been disconnected by the finance department. Now the house falls under the category of substandard. I have been given the responsibility of dealing with substandard houses. Question - do I send out a Notice of Nuisance immediately after hearing of the water disconnect? Do I wait a week or two to see if he pays up? How do some of you handle these? I am a Building Official who has recently been given the task of code enforcement. This is not my cup of tea.
 
Arcal -

Unfortunately, there is no good answer. I would talk to them and try to give them a few options plus a few days to get the matter rectified. Any chance a local social services/charity/church/individual can help these folks get their water turned back on?

Sue, one stop shop
 
I've been dealing with it the last few years, more and more. Send the letter, post the house, but you can't be there 24/7 to make sure nobody is staying there. If it persists then you could issue a Notice of Violation and drag them into court, but I doubt the court is going to be to hard on them, if they can't afford to pay the water bill.
 
How do you know it doesn"t have water? They could be using 5 gallon jugs for sanitary water.

The reason I say this is I ran into this a few years back. Just because the water is not turned on does not mean they do not have access to water for sanitary purposes.

Why are you jumping on this so soon? Why can't you wait a month or so before you start working it? Complaints? Policy? Why be so quick?
 
Try to find out WHY the bill is unpaid. Is it a landlord looking to evict a tenant? Is it a guy that lost his job a few months ago and burned through the $$$ reserves? A Widow who just lost her husband?

If it's a rental, notify the landlord and give him/her the opportunity to provide bottled water in the interim, same for an owner occupant as a practical matter. 10 - 15 gallons per day per person is usually sufficient for temporary situations.

If the problem can't be resolved within a couple of weeks you will likely have to do the 'nasty' and order it vacated... Crappiest part of the job most of the time.
 
Thanks for your responses. Mule, I'm not "jumping on this so soon". I hate sending out Notices and will do all I can to solve the problem without them. Another department brought it to my attention because the water has been off for a couple of weeks. I am just seeing how other departments handle this problem and I through out some different senerios. I have only evicted one person in 20 years and that was one too many.
 
I didn't mean to imply you were jumping in just to be doing it. I was just wondering if someone was pressuring you to "work" it or if it wouldn't hurt anything to let it sit a while and see if it will run it's course.

That's the trouble with internet...sometimes words come out wrong! Didn't mean any offense or negativity.
 
Mule, you are right, words can be taken wrong on these posts. I have to say I did take it wrong. I tend to be touchy when I am dealing with code enforcement. This is a job that I did not ask for and did not want. Luckily I am hoping for retirement sometime in the next two years. Thanks for responding back.
 
Never get any notices.

City is unique in that there are two water providers one private and other is under city control and set up as a private company. Never get any notice from either one if they shut off water.

Same goes for the sewer dept. City owned but set up as a private company. The sewer dept actually requires a shut-off valve installed on the sewer line in order to shut off for non-payment. No notices sent to us when they do that either. About half the town is on sewer and other can still use a septic system.

One day it may all change but it'll be years after I leave.
 
The City I work for owns the utility, gas, electric, sewer and water. We receive reports monthly on utilities that have been disconnected. This is one of the worst parts of this job. I usually have at least one if not several of these situations at any given time. The property maintenance code is what we use to enforce the requirement for utilities to be connected. Many times it is just a short term disconnect and we tend to allow those time to reestablish service. Recently I had one that had not had power in over a year. There was not any visible sanitation issue or neighbor complaint until we dealt with an overgrown yard. In this case the owner cannot afford the deposit to turn his lights on but could afford the monthly payment on his disability. We are working with local assistance groups to find a way for his power to be connected. We try to deal with these situations with understanding but at the end of the day, living in the house without utilities will almost always result in unsafe and sanitary conditions and must be resolved.

Richard
 
It's always the hardest/saddest part of the job.

The jurisdiction should take the lead to try to help these people.. there are organizations and grant programs available.. point them in those directions.
 
Code Enforcement, high grass, substandard buildings, junk cars etc... is the hardest jobs out there. Anyone who has never done it just don't know how tough it is.

A lot of folks just think all the code enforcement guys do is just drive around looking at stuff. Which that is true! It's the enforcement that get tough.

The little old lady on a fixed income that doesn't have anybody to help her out. And then you have the scum bags that you just want to choke them until their eyes pop out!
 
Mule said:
......The little old lady on a fixed income that doesn't have anybody to help her out. And then you have the scum bags that you just want to choke them until their eyes pop out!
You been driving around our town?

FWIW----Code enforcement people should get paid a lot more.
 
Mule said:
The little old lady on a fixed income that doesn't have anybody to help her out. And then you have the scum bags that you just want to choke them until their eyes pop out!
Hey Mule, have you been in my town?

We are permanently depressed after the mill and railroad left town. Now, we just get the either the retirees on a fixed income (yes, come on in!) or the dregs of humanity on welfare/SSI moving here. The latter seem to have a lot of 'treasures' that they just can't part with and garner my attention. No jobs mean no one has to look for work and these recipients can just sit on their tush and wreak havoc. Oh well, it's job security.

Sue, watching the populous devolve
 
Isn't it weird how code enforcement is the same all over!
 
Part of the problem is trying to figure out whether you have squatters on your hands, that are just milking it out till they have to leave, or is it someone that is really in a tough place and doesn't have any options left? Every case is different........and most of the time, difficult. And unfortunatelly, as I said earlier, is happening more and more. Hard times.........
 
resolving municipal responsibility from civil matters (and for that matter, making really hard decisions regarding the heart/human matters).. is tough.

When it comes down to revenue, the municipal responsibility has to take precedence. It's business. There are agencies out there who can help out.. some municipalities take an agressive approach (like DC.. good for them.. they go after the property owner if it's a rental situation.. even to the point of replacing appliances that aren't working).. but that's not always the case..

And it's a tough line to take.
 
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