Water Woes

A Brooklyn man owns a small building and has alway thought his water bills were too high.
He spent alot of time disputing them and not so much time paying them. That's landed him in hot water with the city. Don't try this at home folks, you could lose your property!

Peter Guppy of Brooklyn is in danger of losing the small building he owns all because he didn't keep up with his water bill. How does something like this happen? And how do you get yourself out of it?

"The water department has given me a $34,000 lien on this building that I own," said Peter, "and they're telling me I have to pay or they are going to sell the lien to a lien company at 22% interest compounded daily... and I'm not the only one."

It's true, he's not the only one. Recently, a whole section of the Daily News notified hundreds of New Yorkers of an intended sale of tax liens on real property by the city of New York.
Peter Guppy's building at 245 Howard Aveenue is on the list... even though he's been paying.

"Checks, I give them checks, you can either pay them by the month or you can go in there and pay them once a year, twice a year and I give them like $8,000 or $5,000 checks on the water bill. That's how I've been paying them."

That used to be okay. For years, New Yorkers could get away with not paying their water bills on time. Not anymore! Just this past year the City Council passed what's called Lien Sale Legislation. It puts teeth into the collection of past due amounts for water.

If you owe a thousand dollars in water charges for more than one year, you're in trouble.
Pay up or they'll slap a lien on your property. Peter had been paying only sporadically and he'd always been disputing those water charges.

"I only have two apartments in this building, and a small grocery store," said Peter. "It has refrigerators but the refrigerators work on air. It's really a small building, it may look big but it's only a two-family building."

But the time to dispute the charges on the building is over. The city sent him four different notices, and published that Daily News list. Peter must commit to paying his bill or risk the lien sale. He could lose his building.

"My mother bought this building in the 70's," he said. "I grew up in this building so I've been here all my life and I have nowhere to go if they sell this building as a lien. I'm literally put out in the street."

Well not exactly. The lienholder buys the right to collect those unpaid charges. They can also charge you fees and interest up to 22%. They can begin foreclosure proceedings after six months if you're not keeping to an agreed upon payment plan.

Peter Guppy got to a DEP office in time and paid some upfront charges and avoided the lien sale. The agreement he signed commits him to paying the full amount over time. But if his dispute is successful he may be entitled to a refund.

He's hired a lawyer to help him.