Someone mentioned something about the water bills we pay at Avalon. Is this legal? I lived in Manhattan for 25 years, never paid a water bill but assumed that regulations in queens were different. Can someone clarify this? I was surprised to learn that not only do we pay for water usage but for part of the sewer system! I love this neighborhood but now have many questions about this building.

[quote]Originally posted by drbrg on Sep 13, 2005 6:46 pm GMT-5:

Someone mentioned something about the water bills we pay at Avalon. Is this legal? I lived in Manhattan for 25 years, never paid a water bill but assumed that regulations in queens were different. Can someone clarify this? I was surprised to learn that not only do we pay for water usage but for part of the sewer system! I love this neighborhood but now have many questions about this building.[/quote]

It is illegal in Avalon. I will get you the number of who to call and post it. You can then also if you like take AVLON to cort for back payment if they give you a hard time about a refund. It is a tenat landlord court in Jamacia Queens.

In the mean time you can give this number a call it is a tenant landlord Lawyer. He sometimes gives free advise on something little like this. 212 571 1227 and tell him about the other fees they are charging. SOME tenants are no longer paying all the extras and Just the Base rent. Also Besure that your Deposit is in a interest savings account that collects interest. Interest which is to be given to you.

I am sure if you check out the Better Business Beaurau Avalon will hava some negative reports of how they are ILLEGALY charging for things.

I'd be curious to know where I could find out more about this. The water bill we get at Avalon is from a company called Minol (www.minolusa.com). When called, they stated that they are a 3rd party billing company collecting water use fees on behalf of Avalon Riverview. I could not find anything on NYC.gov or the Attorney General's website stating whether it was legal or not for a building owner to pass on the costs of water service to residents. I am sure the water is not free, like anything in life, but not sure about how we should be paying for it. When I lived at another Avalon property previously, I paid the local township directly for water usage.

Call Eric Gioia or Cathy Nolan's office. or bring your lease to there office and they will tell you what is legal and what is not. THey have helped a few tenants get refunds with this and other illegal fee's.