Landlord's financial woes leave renter with no water, few options

WEST JORDAN — If you rent your home and your landlord stops paying the mortgage and the water bill, you just might get a rude surprise, rather than a fair warning.

That's the predicament facing renter Annette Bell.

"With no funds available, what do I do?" she said.

The West Jordan woman is discovering the mortgage crisis not only affects homeowners, it also creates crises for renters who may be victims of the cascading financial problems of their landlords.

She discovered her landlord is headed toward foreclosure. Her water was shut off two weeks ago, and she's scrambling to figure out her rights.

"I'm not the homeowner, and the water has already been shut off, so they won't make payment arrangements with me," she explained.

A neighbor lets Bell fill water containers to manually flush toilets and wash.

"As far as moving, that's not an option right now because I don't have the funds to do so," Bell said.

She and her boyfriend moved in last August and paid $1,100 a month in rent. In November, a notice that the house would be auctioned went up on the garage door.

"I contacted the landlord," Bell said. "She assured me she was fixing it, it would not be auctioned, it was under control. So I continued to pay my rent."

Another notice appeared in January. When the city shut off the water early this month, Bell discovered her landlord, who lives out of state, had not paid the water bill in nearly a year.

If Bell can pay $1,200, the city will turn it back on. Her landlord now admits that she's losing the house, but she won't return Bell's calls.

We called the landlord to ask her why she continued to accept rent money for about nine months but didn't pay the water bill. We left a message, but got no return call.

We also went to West Jordan City Hall to ask why the city can't work out a payment deal with Bell. Employees told us they only contract with the owners, not the renters on residential water bills. They also said they're seeing more foreclosures, more defaults, and more bankruptcies, and the landlords don't always tell the renters.

Few legal options available

Ken Bresin of Utah Legal Services points out that this is not only a Utah problem. Tenants are running into similar housing crises across the country because of their landlords' financial troubles. They have few legal options.

"She could always sue the current owner who is being foreclosed," said Bresin. "If the current owner is not paying the mortgage and not paying the water bill, the current owner is not going to have money to pay off the judgment."

The Salt Lake City-based Rental Protection Agency said four years ago it received very few tenant complaints concerning foreclosure issues. Now they make up nearly one in five of all complaints. The agency says landlords don't have to tell potential renters if they're having trouble paying the mortgage.

"There's no affirmative duty at this point to divulge, like, 'I know this property is going into foreclosure, so I shouldn't rent to you,'" Bresin said.

After foreclosure, federal law gives the tenant 90 days to move out or reach a deal with the new landlord. Tenants also can check on the status of the mortgage by contacting the county recorder's office.

Bell did that but discovered the bad news she already knew.

The health department also could force Bell out of the house any day because it has no running water, and the department considers that an unsanitary, unlivable situation.

Bell said she'll try to get the money together to find a new place, but she feels like she's quickly running out of options.

"I hope that we don't become homeless. That's my biggest fear," she said.

E-mail: jboal@ksl.com

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