Begin Rant: There is nothing in this business more that drives me nuts than incompetence and laziness. Especially with professional people. The property that I am purchasing, the paralegal is trying to tell me that is my responsibility to go to the property and read the water meter. My natural reluctance to just do as I'm told requires me to ask her why?

I said, of all the properties that I've purchased in this borough, I've never provided the meter reading on one of them. Her co worker said in 35 years of doing this the buyer has provided the meter readings. I then said, what if the buyer and seller we're both out of state and there was no realtor involved? Who would read the meter? She said she had no idea and then asked if I had a problem going in doing it. I said no I don't have a problem going and doing it, but this should be the job of the water company.

And then she asked if the seller could do it. I said no, the seller lives out of state. And then she said, well now you can see why you're doing it.

Oh buddy, that's the wrong thing to say to me. I know it's not a big issue, but it's principle. It doesn't seem like this should be my job, I can tell the water company any random number I make up. Plus, this water company has screwed me over before.

Now, it's not the wrong thing to say to me because it makes me mad. It's the wrong thing to say to me, because it doesn't make sense and I don't think it's true. Why would a water meter not be read by the water company? What if it was a foreclosure or an estate auction and the seller was dead and the buyer was out of state?. There's too many scenarios that put this responsibility solely on buyer and seller.

This is actually the new hire paralegal in the lawyers office that likes to get an attitude with me for some reason. I don't think she likes it when people ask questions.

So I'm going to call the water company and see what happens here.

For the gas and electric in my area, the buyer takes the reading on the day of closing. (or the buyer agent) That saves the cost of the power company to read it when they "turn it on and off". When a new tenant takes over the meter, I read it. Because once I let the tenant do it and there was no way I used the amount of gas they said in the vacant time. If no one reads the meter, the power company will estimate based on how many days in the billing period. That didn't work out for me either. (Tenant comes in and starts showers etc, while very little was used for the time it was vacant and it gets averaged per day.

How interesting. Is this a place where the tenants aren't allowed to have water in their own names, and the owner has to be responsible for it?

Here, if A is done with the house (whether a seller or an occupant), they'll call it in to the water department. The water department will send a guy out to read the meter, and a final bill will go out. When B is ready to activate it, B gets charged for subsequent usage. Water usage gets billed every month, and sewage and trash are rolled into the bill as well.

I hear you NE. Don't worry too much. I figure it's probably a combination of the new person being scared out of her wits and not knowing the answer, and/or possibly someone has told her wrong.

Why should a paralegal know whose responsibility it is to read the water meter? The answer she should give is, "I don't know. I'll call the water company and ask."

People are afraid to say, "I don't know" sometimes. So they'll make up something that sounds good to them.

Paralegal was the only one reading the contracts when I sold the two fourplexes and the buyer snuck in some nasty interpretation of the document where the tenant signs off that they have received everything they are entitled to and the amount of their security etc.

I caught the problem and ran it by two other lawyers and then wrote my own version which was accepted or no deal. Read everything. Sometimes the attorney doesn't and the paralegal knows not enough.

I know what you mean. Got a etter from the county after my mother had been deceased for 11 years. Some form that hadn't been fill out. It was all $00.00. Took it to the courthouse and I signed and the Clerk of Court signed. Then told me that would be $15.00. I asked her to show me on the paperwork she sent me where it said I owe $15.00. I think she was taken aback. No one had ever questioned her.

You know the answer, NE.

You can call the water company for the reading but that can take time, a lot of time its faster to just go read it yourself.

I'm generally not impressed with paralegals. One made mistakes on information for a real estate settlement. One made stupid math errors on a new will. And my least favorite was the one who was working for the FL lawyer who was handling my dad's estate. The lawyer did nearly zero. The paralegal omitted info to the court which got the paperwork bounced back, forgot to send the legal notice to the local paper, and had to be prodded to perform the next step in the process frequently. That firm was one of only two in the county familiar with out of state heirs and executors, and this was the supposedly best of the two!