Ask Me Help Desk - Legal time I must give a utility to take action

Legal time I must give a utility to take action

I have a City of Cleveland water meter that leaks in my finished basement, I have had no results in days to replace the meter from the water dept. They will not even return my phone request. Being that I am plumber how much time must I give them to repair this problem before I remove the faulty water meter and install a bypass until they correct the problem without having legal ramitfactions

You can't legally install a bypass on any utilities meter for ANY amount of time. The penalties can be HUGE. I personally know of several cases that have been prosecuted over the years by knowing the property or the people involved.

You turn the water off at the entry to the building.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoothy

You can't legally install a bypass on any utilities meter for ANY amount of time. The penalties can be HUGE. I personally know of several cases that have been prosecuted over the years by knowing the property or the people involved.

You turn the water off at the entry to the building.

Thank you for the advice, Since this is our 1 year old house, by turning off the water at the meter we will be living without water in the house. The water dept here is notorious for taking weeks or even months to remedy a problem like this. I guess my next best solution is have my city building dept or coucilman put pressure on them. Thank you again.

There should be a public service commission that oversees utilities in Cleveland. Contact them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by puffmugs

Thank you for the advice, Since this is our 1 year old house, by turning off the water at the meter we will be living without water in the house. The water dept here is notorious for taking weeks or even months to remedy a problem like this. I guess my next best solution is have my city building dept or coucilman put pressure on them. Thank you again.

Trust me... when the Utility sees broken seals or a bypass... they immediately report it and take action as if its been bypassed since the day you took possession of the house... and legally they can do it. The courts will back them up 100%.

Trust me.. I hope you haven't cut the seals yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by puffmugs

... by turning off the water at the meter we will be living without water in the house. The water dept here is notorious for taking weeks or even months to remedy a problem like this. I guess my next best solution is have my city building dept or coucilman put pressure on them. Thank you again.

Your best solution is to, as Smoothy suggests, turn off the water. Then haul water or whatever. At least that will avoid further damage to the basement.

Yes, you may sue them for the damage if they are at fault, you may turn off the meter, You may not take it out and by pass it, if you do, you may have trouble even getting water hooked back up, and only after stiff fines. Honestly if you are really a plumber you should know this.

You may and should go down and if you have your local license see if they will give you a meter to replace with, or you turn in a service request in person

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

Yes, you may sue them for the damage if they are at fault, you may turn off the meter, You may not take it out and by pass it, if you do, you may have trouble even getting water hooked back up, and only after stiff fines. Honestly if you are really a plumber you should know this.

You may and should go down and if you have your local license see if they will give you a meter to replace with, or you turn in a service request in person

I honestly am a union license plumber and when we do new houses in this area we install water bars when the people move in to test the house and they have water when they move in until the water dept comes out and installs a water meter in some cases can take weeks or months, check out cleveland newsnet5.com to see the water dept problems in this city. The Water Dept will not let anybody licensed or not install their own meter. Service request go unanswered for weeks and sometimes months. That is the predictiment I face. Right now I believe my only solution is the building dept in my suburb or my councilman to apply pressure to the water dept to stay on the legal side, even that many other people are doing the same thing because of huge unfounded water bills because of faulty water meters with very little success. Check out the Division of Water, Cuyahoga County to understand what I am up against. Hundred and hundreds of phone calls and service request go unanswered.

Again, there must be an agency with oversight here. Or get the media involved. You might consider getting together a class action suit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

Again, there must be an agency with oversight here. Or get the media involved. You might consider getting together a class action suit.

Media is involved and there is also a class action suit in progress which I am not part of since my problem is recent. Many of the Water Department officials are facing charges, lost their jobs or already in prison for accepting bribes and not doing their jobs. That is what many of us are up against. I was just checking AMHD for legal ramifications I might have for taking things into my own hands. Right now I think my best solution is my building dept and coucilman. Thanks for your suggestions.