KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nobody wants to pay someone else’s bill. But landlords across Kansas City say that’s what the Kansas City, Mo., Water Services Department keeps asking them to do — sending them delinquent waters bills that should go to their tenants.
And there could now be a lawsuit by summer.
Stephen Summers is head of the Landlord Legal Defense Fund. He rents many homes across Kansas City and says lately the city has been sending him bills that should be his tenant’s responsibility.
“You wouldn’t pay my credit card bill if I sent it to you so I don’t know why I should pay my tenants water bill,” said Summers.
Summer’s complains that he has “$10,000 worth of water bills” because of tenants that stopped paying or moved without paying their bill.
“Delinquent bills from tenants are not the responsibility of the landowner or the property owner, ” said Jennifer Kincaid, spokeswoman for the Water Services department. “What I would say to landowners is the important thing is to let us know when you have tenants moving in, when you have tenants moving back out so you can help us better inform you about your account.”
Summers says he and other landlords he works with have repeatedly called the Water Services Department to correct mistakes but insists the bills keep coming.
“I do not intend to pay it,” said Summers.
He says if the bills don’t stop soon he and other landlords are prepared to file a lawsuit and have already hired a law firm.
