West Jordan renter without water and options after landlord stopped paying bill

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," she said Friday. "So, they won't make payment arrangements with me."

A neighbor lets Annette Bell fill water containers so she can 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," she said.

She and her boyfriend moved in last August and pay $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, she found out that her landlord, who lives out of state, had not paid the water bill in nearly a year.

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

Calls to the landlord were not returned.

West Jordan officials said they only contract with the owners, not 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.

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," Bresin said. "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."