Overbilled for overflow of water; Residents stuck with hefty water bill

The Moore’s make ends meet living at The Cove for almost a year.

All until a $1,000 water bill showed up at their door in April.

“The city, they reached out to us, and they gave us a notice, stating that because of our high-water consumption, that we may have a leak,” said Richard Moore. “So, we immediately contacted the maintenance for the water report or for the apartment complex. He found that there was an underground pipe break. And he said he found it, and it was completed on March 22.”

Richard said the city was able to deduct a part of the charge for the inconvenience and paid enough to not get their water shut off for the month.

But come May – that $1,000 charge turned into over $1,400.

With a 4-year-old girl and daughter on the way, Richard and his wife Bianca feel they are at a loss.

“We’re losing sleep over and, my wife, she’s crying about it all the time,” said Richard. “You know, I’m trying to figure it out. I’m juggling this and work, I work 7 days a week just to try to provide for my family. So, we have another place to go. And it’s just, it’s just hard on us.”

WINK News reporter Camila Pereira visited the leasing office to see if WINK could get them the answers, but was told it’s up to Bianca, the tenant, and the City of Fort Myers.

But real estate attorney Kevin F. Jursinski said it should be up to the property management company.

“The tenant, as you’ve indicated, used ordinary care and taking care of the unit,” Jursinski said. “And then then this disruption came up not because of something a tenant did intentionally right. There was no negligence, no disrepair on her part, and no way for her to control this. This was an accident outside her control and outside her unit. So, I don’t think she’d be responsible for this.”

Now the City of Fort Myers and the Moores did come to an agreement to pay this over $1,400 charge in small increments per month.

But as Jursinski said – that shouldn’t be the case.

WINK News did reach out to the property management company and leasing office again on the matter after visiting them, still no response.