Too often tenants leave an unpaid water bill behind when they leave one of Tony Guardado’s rental units in Stark County.
Ohio law says Guardado is responsible for the bill because he owns the rental property and it allows government utility departments to assess the overdue charges as a lien if he doesn’t pay it.
“Holding the property owner responsible for a resident’s public utility really is an unfair practice and policy,” said Guardado, a member of the Stark County Real Estate Investors Association who estimated that tenants leave him stuck with an unpaid water bill roughly 90% of the time…