Her HOA hired private contractor to manage Condo's water system. When she saw new $3K water bill, she called press immediately
Receiving unexpected, large bills can be a significant blow to most people. A woman was going through something like that after the HOA hired a private contractor to manage her condo's water system. The woman, Cynthia Brentley, hadn't received her water bill for over five months and had repeatedly enquired about the same. However, when it finally arrived, she was shocked to see that she owed nearly $3000 for five months. Things got even more complicated when the HOA refused to let her plumber check the water system, per WSB-TV 2.
According to the bill, the woman had used over 100,000 gallons of water in the past five months. So she hoped that her plumber could investigate the water system and find the reason behind the sudden and massive surge in water usage. "I didn't know that it was this high until I got it in October," Cynthia said about her water bill. "If I had known ahead of time, we could have had the plumber out before then." Nonetheless, the HOA wasn't allowing her plumber to access one area, the water closet, of the system, which needed to be looked at to find the proper cause behind the issue. This came as a big surprise to the other residents, who had never heard of such a rule.
"Yes, she can check the pressure, but she can't check the entire system without access to the water closet. In 21 years, no one has ever said we cannot access the water closet," another resident, Caroline Simmons, pointed out. The plumber wanted to check the entire water line to come to a conclusion about the problem. But multiple requests to access the area had been denied by the HOA, according to Cynthia. The plumber had pointed out that the water problem might have started after the HOA had a private utility company change the property's water meters. The HOA president had told the woman that access couldn't be granted without an HOA representative at the site of the inspection.
"All I know is I need somebody to come in to assess it to see if there’s a problem. And they won't let me," Cynthia expressed. The woman was on a fixed income, so it was not possible for her to pay such a sum. There was red clay backed up in the plumbing system and it had been causing her toilet to leak. The HOA eventually told her that the water closet could only be accessed with the utility company's permission. On the other hand, the utility company told her that the HOA could indeed grant her access to the water closet and it was up to them and not the company.
The woman had reached out to the press and admitted, "All I know is I need somebody to come in to assess it to see if there's a problem. And they won't let me." Channel 2 Action News reached out to the HOA president, who would only speak off the record and refused to make a remark on the incident. The HOA also didn't tell the outlet why the water bills hadn't been sent for months. "I’m just asking them to credit the bill," Cynthia went on.
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