Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) filed a Council Consideration Request earlier this week that seeks to keep renters from experiencing water utility shutoffs due to nonpayment by their landlord or property manager.
The request comes just two months after the San Antonio Water System shut off water service to several apartment complexes for delinquent payments by their landlords, with one of these complexes being in District 2 and another being in District 7.
The request asks the city to “identify methods for SAWS to recover the outstanding payments without affecting tenants, instead concentrating on holding irresponsible, delinquent landlords or property management firms accountable.”
The council members encourage the city and SAWS to work together to change the process of debt collection for landlords of apartment complexes and to develop practices that place the final burden on the delinquent landlords instead.
“Recently, San Antonio residents — including our constituents — residing in several apartment complexes have experienced water service disconnections or threat of disconnections, through no fault of their own,” the request states. “These disconnections occurred because their landlord or property management company failed to make timely payments to the San Antonio Water System (SAWS).”
The request calls for the amending of the Proactive Apartment Inspections Program to impose penalties on landlords who neglect utility payments, as well as for SAWS policies and procedures for communication with these property owners or managers to be “accurate, timely and also follow a consistent process.”
Part of that calls for enhancing what’s called the “Bad Actor Apartment List” to include fines for landlords or property owners that are consistently late in paying their water bills. Those who fail to settle up will be fined $100 per unit.
Under the proposed reform, the city’s website will publicly display the names and addresses of apartment complexes that are delinquent in their SAWS payment and will require SAWS to share customer data regarding apartments subject to disconnections and report it to the city’s financial and legal departments. The request includes having the city review and recommend changes to SAWS policies and procedures for notification of property owners, payment arrangements and/or fees implemented consistently before a shutoff is scheduled.
Signatures of support from Councilman Marc Whyte (D10), Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) and Councilwoman Melissa Cabello-Havrda (D6) are also on the request.
The request will now go to the City Council’s Governance Committee for further review.
