(WSVN) - Your water bill suddenly goes from $200 to $2,000 and then $4,000. She couldn’t find a leak on your property because the leak wasn’t on their property. What’s the deal here? It’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
Water is so easy to get in America. To bathe, flush, drink.
Convenient and not too expensive either.
Nurcan Archer: “$200 or $300 like that.”
But if you have ever watched Help Me Howard, you know Nurcan didn’t call about those water bills. It’s the new ones.
Nurcan Archer: “Then the bill gets to $4,000. Then it gets to $6,000.”
The next month, it was up to $7,200 as Nurcan and her husband searched the house for a leak.
Nurcan Archer: “He checked it himself first then my father-in-law checked it. Then we call the plumber. There is no leakage in my house.”
As they tried to figure it out, they didn’t know their water meter was spinning. Nurcan hired another plumber, who opened their meter box and saw water pouring out of a PVC pipe.
Nurcan Archer: “This is the pipe that the plumber said it was leaking from.”
A tree root had cracked the pipe on their side of the meter. They might have seen the soggy mess, but this is where Nurcan’s story takes a really strange twist.
Nurcan Archer: “We are two houses down from my house. We are in my neighbors yard.”
Her busted meter was down the street with three other water meters in a neighbors yard.
Nurcan Archer: “And the plumber who came said he has never seen this before. Two houses down, that’s why we didn’t actually see the water meter.”
Nuran contacted the Coral Springs water department.
Nurcan Archer: “They say this is your bill, it is on your land. I tried to tell her it is not on my land.”
The city would not back down. Nuran was told to pay the $7,200 water bill in four installments, beginning with $1,700 immediately.
Nurcan Archer: “She threatened to cut water off that day. She said ‘You have to pay this, or otherwise, we’re gonna cut it today.’ I had to pay it.”
That means Nurcan and her husband have to pay nearly $6,000 more. Raising three boys, they don’t have that money.
Nurcan Archer: “I really need help. I cannot pay the bill. I just cannot afford it. I don’t have it.”
That’s understandable but what does the law say about a big water bill from a meter that is not on your property, Mr. Finkelstein?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “It’s a gray area. Coral Springs has an ordinance that says you are responsible for leaks on your side of meter on your property. The meter is not on Nurcan’s property. The city created the problem by allowing four meters on one property. If they won’t wipe out the bill, you would have to go to court.”
We contacted Coral Springs.
They checked their records and the meters were originally on property owned by a developer who subdivided the lots and built homes in 1989, leaving the meters on one property and not putting them on individual properties.
The city is now going to update their ordinance to make it clear homeowners are responsible for meters even if they are not on their land. Since Nurclan had paid part of the $7,200 water bill, the city gave her a one time credit, wiping out the remaining $5,838 water bill.
Nurcan Archer: “I am really grateful. You just don’t know. You did me a big favor.”
Now, if you get hit with an enormous water bill, here’s what you do:
Howard Finkelstein: ” Ask the department for a sewage credit and number two, ask for a one time water credit. In many cases, they will give you that water credit if there are extenuating circumstances, like in this case.”
Nurcan was much more relaxed and smiling when we met her again. We didn’t know wiping out the big water bill, saved Christmas for her kids.
Nurcan Archer: “You guys help me out. Now, they can have a great Christmas. You know what I mean.”
Didn’t know when we started that wiping out that water bill would help her kids have a nicer Christmas. That’s great!
And if you get a leak, no matter how small, get it fixed. Something as simple as a toilet that keeps running after you flush it can cost you thousands.
Getting showered with problems? Your hopes of solving it going down the toilet? Leak the problem to us ’cause we don’t believe in watered down ways of helping.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
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Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
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