Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

You need to first look at your lease and what it says about you paying the water bill. I have seen residential leases which provide that the tenants will pay 1/4 of the total water bill for the building (in the case of four tenants) and that will generally be upheld if you agreed to it in writing. You also need to look at the landlord's obligation under the lease to provide you with an accounting for the water bill. The lease to a very large degree is going to determine what rights, if any, you have to object to the water bill. One thing you can try, and I cannot tell you if a water bill falls under their jurisdiction, is contact the California Public Utilities Commission. There are rules that govern a landlord when they "pass-through" utilities to tenants. Sometimes the PUC is willing to help you as a tenant resolve these problems. I am just not sure, however, if that is the case with a water bill, as the PUC deals primarily with gas and electric bills. It might, however, be worth a call.

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