[stomachmonkey]

For a friend of mine in the Bay area.

Received his water bill and it was through the roof. $300.00

Turns out the toilet in the basement is faulty and has been running for some time unnoticed. (He just got back from a two week honeymoon.)

Water company won't give him a one time courtesy consideration because he has not had service at this address for a full year.

So his question was, is / can the landlord be held responsible for any or all of the excess use?

I assume one of the answers will be he needs to check his lease to see what it says.

But if it the lease does not specifically address that situation, tenant incurred unexpected expense due to malfunction of landlords appliance, is there a precedent?