Unfortunately, two more Shreveport apartments have very large delinquent water bills. The City of Shreveport is considering shutting off delivery of water to these apartment complexes.
Water is provided to these tenants as part of their lease. The apartment complex has a master meter which provides water to the entire complex. The individual tenants do not have separate water meters. Cutting off water to the master meter cuts off water to all the tenants in the apartments.
So what options do the tenants in these complexes have other than moving and not paying any further rent?
The Louisiana Civil Code requires lessors/landlords to make all repairs that become "necessary to maintain the leased premises in a condition suitable for the purpose for which it was leased". Thus, if the apartment lease provides that water is to be supplied to the tenant by the landlord, then presumably the supply of water should be deemed "necessary" for the tenant.
The Civil Code gives a lessee/tenant the right to make necessary repairs if the lessor/landlord fails to do so within a reasonable time. The lessee/tenant can then demand reimbursement from the lessor/landlord or deduct that amount from the next lease payment.
The Civil Code does not define a "necessary repair”, and it does not mention the supply of water to a lessee/tenant. It is reasonable to assume that the failure to deliver water to a tenant as set forth in the tenant's lease would be deemed a "necessary repair".
But how does an individual tenant exercise a right to withhold a water payment from the rent check? Since the tenant's unit is not separately metered, the water usage and water bill cannot be accurately determined.
One possible option is to withhold from the rent an amount determined to be more than an apartment water bill should be, using comparable with a residence or an apartment that is separately metered. Some documentation or calculation of any withheld rent for a pro rata.
But then the problem is that remittance of these withheld funds to DOWAS (Shreveport’s water department) will be very small, as in miniscule, in comparison to the total outstanding water bill of the complex.. And it would not be possible for DOWAS to credit the tenant for the payment and maintain water to that tenant unless a separate water meter was installed for that unit.
If all the tenants in the complex withheld all of their rent in an escrow account, then they would have some leverage with the landlord to remit money to DOWAS. In that instance DOWAS would need to agree to continue to supply water to the complex. And then the issue of how much of the combined rent money should be remitted to the landlord and how much to DOWAS becomes another issue.
At the Tuesday city council meeting councilman James Green asked if there was a legal remedy for the tenants facing a loss of water to their apartments. The answer is "YES".
But is it easy to effectuate this remedy? Unfortunately, the answer is "NO".
A coordinated effort by the apartment complex owner, all the tenants and DOWAS would be needed. Getting that done will probably be like herding a bunch of chickens--not much success but lots of chicken poop on your shoes.
If it's any solace to tenants that may need to move because of no water, then the landlord's failure to provide water would probably be a good defense for any further lease payments. That's a decision for a judge to make if the tenant is sued by the landlord for rent payments.
To say the tenants are in a bad situation is an understatement. The same is true for DOWAS and the Arceneaux administration.