Landlord Complaining

By NickiCole

Hello. My family (my husband, two kids, and I) have been renting the top half of a duplex for 3 years now.
Recently, our landlord has been complaining about the water bill. He pays for water.
He said it was $1000 for three months.

He seems to be only talking to us about it, not the lower tenant. He keeps threatening to raise the rent.

I understand that we have more people living in our house, but we hardly even use the water!! We are a green family and try to conserve everything we can.
We shower only 3-4 times a week instead of every day. I use as little water as possible to wash dishes and clothes.

I had a garden this last summer, and watered it only THREE TIMES.
The landlord has told us that I am not allowed to have my garden anymore! He thinks that was what was making the bill so high, but it’s impossible when I wasn’t even watering it!

On top of that, this landlord takes awful care of this house, hiring the cheapest labor he possibly can to make repairs on this house.

He has had the same carpet for over 20 years, stains and all. We had to buy rugs to cover it.

When the roof was leaking, he has his "repair man" come slather tar all over the roof. The tar dripped down all over the side of the house, all over our deck, and all over our dog!!! It was on his face.

I honestly think there must be a leak or something to be causing the water bill to be so high, but I’m getting tired of him constantly threatening to raise the rent.

What should I do??

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