Getting Hosed: When property owners die, Chicago water billing keeps going and gets passed to next owner
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This next investigation starts a little macabre - what happens when you die?
This story is not about mortality and the existential conundrum – there are actually a few to answers to that question that we know for sure. In Chicago when you die, ComEd shuts off your electricity, and Peoples Gas shuts off your gas.
But the city does not stop your water – and they don't stop your water billing either.
CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards dug into this issue in this latest edition of Getting Hosed.
For years, the CBS 2 Investigators have tried to unbungle the billing the Chicago Department of Water Management's bad billing. We have saved you hundreds of thousands of dollars – but nothing has changed.
That brings us to the story of Scott Rosenzweig. He bought a house at 6636 S. Ingleside Ave. in the Woodlawn neighborhood – for which he planned a gut renovation.
Afterward, he said he planned to "put it back on the tax rolls as a fully-improved property that can be occupied."
So Rosenzweig bought the house – which is on a block that is undergoing a renaissance. But then came the water bill - $13,498.65 on Aug. 6, 2019.
But on Aug. 6 of this year, the water bill was $44,655.21.
"That's a big problem," Rosenzweig said. "Forty-four thousand dollars is astonishing."
In Chicago, when you buy a home like Rosenzweig did, you inherit the water bill.
The Ingleside Avenue house had been owned by Mary Young, who died in 2019. But her water was never shut off – and pipes burst, likely during the polar vortex in late January of that year.
The water freezing and thawing likely destroyed the beautiful entrance to the building. Meanwhile, the water bill exploded.
"Now, the city will tell you, well, nobody made a request to turn the water off," Rosenzweig said. "Dead people typically cannot call to turn the water off."
This issue is not isolated to Rosenzweig's rebuild project in Woodlawn. A similar situation is found at 2143 S. Millard Ave. in South Lawndale – where the owners are dead.
The water bill there as issued on March 29 was $96,923.67. The domicile itself is probably only worth about $75,000 but that's right, nearly $97,000 is owed in back water by dead people.
"Nobody in Chicago is going to touch it," Rosenzweig said.
It so happens that on that very same block of Millard Avenue, we saved Larry Ricardson $17,000 on his bogus water bill in 2019.
Meanwhile, we met Rufus, who is renovating on the same block of Millard Avenue. We showed him the water bill for 2143 S. Millard Ave. for $96,923.67 – which would have to be paid even before buying the building.
"Oh, hell no," Rufus said.
And get this - Rufus has his own real-time issue with city Water Department.
"I'm saying that they charge you for water bills when you're not using not water – about $300, $400 (a month)," he said. "No water going in it at all."
Further, Rosenzweig said: "You can negotiate with the IRS if you owe them money. You can negotiate with mortgage companies. You cannot negotiate with the city of Chicago. There's no one talk to.
And get this - not only do properties stay blighted and off the tax roll, but many go into foreclosure, And then, instead of something, the city gets zippo, zilch, jack squat for that water.
That's the city hosing itself.
"When I saw Getting Hosed, I said, this is what I go through as part of making my living," Rosenzweig said. "I'm getting hosed regularly."
Indeed, three people are getting hosed on just one block.
