Water hookup responsibility question.

[SchemeFighter]

My neighbor has a water leak at the shutoff valve underground. The trailer park management is telling him that he is responsible for the repairs.

I'm ignorant of the law, but suspect that the trailer park management is wrong.

I thought that it wasn't a renter's responsibility until after the shutoff valve or above ground.

The trailer Park management position seems ludicrous in my opinion. So if someone leaves the trailer Park, they can take the shutoff valve?

I thought that the renters responsibility started at hookup point after the shutoff valve.

I thought the shutoff valve at the hookup was the responsibility of the trailer park also because in order to replace that valve the trailer Park water main has to be shut off.

The water is provided by the trailer park. It's not directly provided by the water utility company.

[Greg]

I am not sure if there is any law that states who is responsible for what. You need to remember that the park is a Private watersystem so you have a private system hooked to a private system. Common sense would tell you that the park is responsible for the valve, as you say if someone leaves they could take the valve with them. This is assuming that you are talking about the valve in the ground. There should actually be two main valves, one in the ground and one in the home to shut the water off in an emergency.

Is the leak AHEAD of the meter? If so let the park pay for lost water.

Greg

[SchemeFighter]

I am not sure if there is any law that states who is responsible for what. You need to remember that the park is a Private watersystem so you have a private system hooked to a private system. Common sense would tell you that the park is responsible for the valve, as you say if someone leaves they could take the valve with them. This is assuming that you are talking about the valve in the ground. There should actually be two main valves, one in the ground and one in the home to shut the water off in an emergency.

Is the leak AHEAD of the meter? If so let the park pay for lost water.

Greg

At his site as most of the sites in this trailer park have no water meter.

After the trailer Park management told the renter, that the renter would be responsible for the repairs, I told my neighbor he ought to just let it leak, and threaten to put his rent in escrow to motivate the trailer park to fix the problem. I also suggested that we could legally try to hold the trailer park liable for any would be settling or erosion due to the water leak. The water leak has already undermined my sidewalk.

Within a few hours, the trailer park called a plumber and I assume the trailer park is going to pay for the repairs. (So we came to a similar conclusion as you suggested; to motivate the trailer park to fix and repair the water leak)

The plumber that has responded, says the pipe going to the shutoff out is badly rusted and they may have to dig down to the trailer Park water main to solve the problem. The valves and water lines are probably over 50 years old.

The trailer park seems to be penny wise and pound foolish. A few years ago there was a water leak that had very little restriction. The trailer park was too cheap to call a plumber, and it took them nearly a week to start fixing the problem. I'd estimate they lost about $200-500 dollars worth of water. I think it would have been probably cheaper to make an emergency call to a professional plumber.

One of the former tenants alleges that the water lines in some of the areas of the the trailer park aren't buried deep enough by code by several inches.

[Greg]

Our park has space for 300 (about 50% filled) And we loose $200-500/month. There are meters at the street mains coming into the park and every home has a meter. They are in the process of planing new lines through the park.

As for code, I assume it does not get too cold, a few inches down would freeze here.

Greg