Had a pipe break last night because of a tenant that didn’t have his heat tape on. Break was before the meter and pretty bad. First time I’ve had to deal with this - should the tenant be penalIzed? I think some mentioned the try to seek relief from the town as well? That should be possible here. No idea how much water was lost yet…
Yes, i would try and see if the water department has anything in place to help with this. They may have a provision for this. Before the cold this year, we went around and checked all heat tapes to verify they were working . A program like that might help ( not fool proof by any means though) .
Im not sure if you are able to charge the tenant back for this as I think it might be difficult to pinpoint it was their fault without heat tape and the break was pre meter.
I would just eat the cost but others might do different .
Good luck