Thousand Oaks homeowner has sticker shock over wastewater repairs

May 02--THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Thousand Oaks homeowner Naseem Majdalani always knew that he was financially responsible for some repairs on his property to the curb line.

He recently was stunned to learn that he was also responsible for sewer system repairs in the street itself.

And now he's on the hook for $14,900 in maintenance costs not covered by his homeowners insurance policy.

"I was shocked," said Majdalani, 65, who has lived with his wife and children, now grown, in his West Sidlee Street house since 1997. "Oh man, I couldn't believe it."

Majdalani, the retired CEO of an alarm company, had to replace a rotted wastewater pipe known as a service lateral leading from his residence to the sewer main in the middle of his cul-de-sac.

The job was made uncommonly complicated and messy by a high level of groundwater that had submerged Majdalani's pipe. To make matters worse, the ground kept collapsing. A Thousand Oaks contractor, Williams Brothers Plumbing, had to dig into the street in front of Majdalani's house to remove the rotted pipe, further driving the price up.

"Usually, when you have a sewer problem, it's pretty simple," said the plumbing company's owner, Bobby Williams. "We're in and out of there in a couple days. Wham bam. It's like $3,000. But this was just brutal."

Instead of a few days, the job lasted two weeks.

MUNICIPAL CODE RULE

Thousand Oaks Public Works Director Jay Spurgin said that while he feels for Majdalani, under city municipal code Majdalani is financially responsible for the repairs.

"It basically says that installation, maintenance, repair, or replacement of service laterals beyond the city's public main shall solely be the complete responsibility of the property owner," Spurgin said.

The city's website, https://www.toaks.org, explains why.

"The city has no way of cleaning individual laterals from the public main," it says. "The city also has no control over what the property owner discharges to the wastewater system or what the owner plants over their lateral or in the parkway which could affect the lateral."

The main in front of Majdalani's house is part of Thousand Oaks' intricate underground wastewater collection system that pipes sewage from throughout the city to the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant. The system is more than 500 miles long.

Thousand Oaks isn't the only city in Ventura County to put the financial responsibility of maintaining service laterals on property owners, said Spurgin and Williams.

Others that do include Camarillo, Oxnard, Simi Valley and Ventura, Spurgin said.

Thousand Oaks is responsible for other repairs such as to curbs, gutters and sidewalks, Spurgin said. But maintaining parkways between sidewalks and curbs, for instance, is up to property owners, he said.

"So different things are kind of mixed throughout the municipal code," he said.

ESCALATING COSTS

Majdalani said he first noticed wastewater backing up into his front yard about April 1. He called one plumber who couldn't fix the problem by snaking the pipe. He then turned to Williams Brothers, who determined the lateral was rotted away because it was submerged in groundwater.

"The groundwater level is so high over there," Williams said. "It was almost like a river under there."

Majdalani watched with alarm as the job got more and more costly.

"I am more than happy to pay what I need to pay," he said. "But this was crazy. We started out with $95 for a snake. Next thing you know, I'm up to $225 because they said they needed to run a hydro test to clear the line.

"Next thing you know, it's $3,000 because it's down to the sidewalk. I said, 'OK, let's do it.' The next thing you know, they said, 'We have to go all the way down to the street.'"

Once William Brothers began digging, the ground started to collapse, Majdalani said.

"Bobby called me up and says, 'Naseem, I'm sorry man. I've never seen anything like this in many, many, many years. And I'm sorry, but you're stuck with $18,000,'" Majdalani said. "I said, 'Oh please.' My heart was going to stop."

Williams said it was the messiest job he's ever done.

"We ended up having to take out 50 to 60 yards of water and sand to get 10 yards worth of soil removed," he said. "Getting the lateral dug up with the groundwater that high was enormous."

Williams Brothers finished the repairs in late April.

Spurgin said the high groundwater level in Majdalani's neighborhood, and others in the city, is a natural condition.

WAKE-UP CALL

Majdalani said the episode served as a rude awakening.

"I was definitely aware that it's my responsibility to go from my house to the street," he said. "I accepted that and I was willing to pay the money."

But he wasn't aware that he had to pay for the repairs in the street until his insurer told him.

"No way did I know that," he said. "Not a chance."

Still, he has since paid the contractor's bill.

"What choice did I have?" he asked, resigned.

Hiring a lawyer would only have cost him more money with no guarantee of relief, he said.

"But this is not about the thousands of dollars," Majdalani said. "It's about someone has to be responsible for this and why should it be one person, me, for fixing this whole thing down here?"

He said Spurgin and city inspectors were sympathetic, but could only refer him to a senior group that said they might be able to kick in $500.

"The senior group was very nice but $500 when you're spending thousands?" he said. "Besides, it's not their problem. It's the city's."

PUBLIC AWARENESS?

Does Spurgin think most Thousand Oaks property owners are aware they're financially responsible for those kinds of repairs?

"Well, certainly any property owner that has had a problem with their sewer lateral due to age or clogging, I think they would be aware of it," he said. "That's because I think all of the plumbing companies that service the area are aware of that and of course they would share that with the property owner."

Property owners could also be made aware of their financial responsibility through insurance policy offers many of them receive in the mail, Spurgin said.

Majdalani doesn't have such a policy. He did catch a break, however.

Williams gave him a discount, cutting the price of the job from $18,000 to $14,900.

"With that amount, we barely broke even," Williams said. "But he's a great guy and he was hurting."

Majdalani said he greatly appreciated the gesture.

"It made me feel that at least someone was trying to help me out," he said.

___

(c)2015 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)

Visit Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) at www.vcstar.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.