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.