Learn NYC property · Value and property tax

Water and sewer charges (DEP) as a property charge and a lien

How NYC water and sewer charges are billed to the owner, the FY 2026/27 rates, late charges, and how an unpaid water bill becomes a lien.

In New York City, water and sewer are billed to the property, not to the person using them. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sends the bill to the owner, the owner is legally responsible for it whatever a lease says, and an unpaid bill becomes a lien on the building — a debt that stays with the property when it is sold and that the City can sell to collect, as it does unpaid property tax.

For a buyer, a lender or anyone sizing up a building, that makes the water account part of the building's debts. For a landlord, it is a running cost that rises every year by a rate the City sets each June.

Who bills, and who sets the rates

Three bodies share the work. The New York City Water Board sets the rates, in a rate schedule it adopts each year after public hearings; the Municipal Water Finance Authority borrows for the system's capital works, and the rates must cover its debt service; and DEP runs the water system and bills and collects for the Board. DEP's Bureau of Customer Services handles accounts and disputes.

For fiscal year 2026/27 the Board adopted its schedule on June 10, 2026, effective July 1, 2026.

The rates for FY 2026/27

Charge	Rate from July 1, 2026
Water	$5.35 per 100 cubic feet
Sewer	159% of the water charge — $8.51
Water and sewer together	$13.86 per 100 cubic feet
Minimum charge	$0.49 a day per meter

A hundred cubic feet is about 748 gallons. The rates rose 6.0% on the year before, when water was $5.05. The Board's rate report puts a typical single-family home, using 70,000 gallons a year, at about $1,297 a year, and a typical apartment in a metered multi-family building at about $964.

How a property is billed

Metered. Almost every account — all but about 3% — pays by the meter. Most are billed every three months; monthly billing is optional. When DEP cannot read a meter it sends an estimated bill, which is due like any other: in fiscal 2026 DEP estimated 28.3% of bills, far above its 4% target, while it replaced the radio units that read meters remotely.
Flat rates. A few older buildings still pay a frontage rate set by the building's width, stories and apartments; no building can newly join it. Larger buildings can instead join the Multi-family Conservation Program, a fixed charge per apartment — $1,412.60 a year for FY 2026/27 — for buildings with four or more apartments that meet its metering and water-saving requirements.
Parking lots not served by City water pay a stormwater charge by area.

Paying late

A late water bill carries late payment charges at the same rates the City charges on overdue property tax, set each year by the City Council: for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, 6% a year where the property's assessed value is $250,000 or less, 9% up to $450,000 and 16% above, compounded daily.

An owner who falls behind can sign an installment agreement — up to 120 months, with no minimum down payment required. Signing one takes the debt out of a planned lien sale; missing payments for six months is a default that puts it back.

DEP can also shut off service for non-payment. The Board's rules cap how far back DEP can bill: it cannot bill for service, or raise an old bill, more than four years after the water was used, unless the owner caused the problem.

When a water bill goes unpaid

Unpaid water and sewer charges are a lien on the property, and a sale does not remove it — a new owner takes the building with its water debt. That is why a buyer's closing usually includes a Title Read Letter: requested from DEP before the sale, for $25, it fixes the account as of the transfer, and DEP will not later charge more for the time before it.

Past that, the City can foreclose on the lien or include it in the tax lien sale, which sells overdue City debts to a private trust that then collects them with interest and fees. Water debt alone can put a property in the sale once it passes a threshold — under DOF's rules for the 2025 sale, generally $1,000 owed for a year, but $3,000 for two- and three-family homes and for a small store or office with one or two apartments above, and $5,000 owed for two years for a rental building owned by a housing development fund company (HDFC). An owner-occupied one-family home that owes only water charges cannot have its lien sold, though its water can still be shut off. A sold lien adds a 5% surcharge.

There was no lien sale in 2026: the Mayor paused it on March 11, 2026 for review, and the City's Mayor's Management Report for fiscal 2026 marks the sale's measures "not available" for that reason. See the tax lien sale for where it stands.

Water debt on the lien-sale lists

DOF's published lists mark each property whose only debt is water and sewer. By BlockLot Intelligence's count of those lists, 12,197 of the 29,972 properties on the 2025 sale's first, 90-day notice — 40.7% — owed water and sewer charges and nothing else.

Most of them paid or settled before the sale: on the final sale list, 802 of the 4,545 properties were water-only, 17.6% of them. The City's Independent Budget Office counted $29 million of the 2025 sale's $220 million of liens as water and sewer debt.

Across the whole system, the Mayor's Management Report counted about 838,000 water and sewer accounts in fiscal 2026, with 91,376 of them more than 180 days behind, owing $1.24 billion.

Help with the bill

Home Water Assistance Program — an automatic credit of up to $196 on the account of a home whose owner gets a heating-assistance grant, a senior, disabled-homeowner or veterans' property tax exemption, or is a senior owner-occupant DOF identifies as earning under $50,000.
Multi-family Water Assistance Program — $250 per apartment, for up to 75,000 apartments in affordable buildings with an agreement with the City's housing agencies.
Leak forgiveness — a bill made unusually high by a leak can be cut by up to half, if asked for within 120 days.
Exemptions — some nonprofits, such as houses of worship, hospitals and nonpublic schools, can apply to DEP for a full or partial exemption from water and sewer charges under State law.

Disputing a bill

A bill can be disputed in three steps: a written complaint to DEP within four years of the bill; an appeal to DEP's Bureau of Customer Services within 120 days of DEP's answer; and a final appeal to the Water Board's Executive Director within 60 days of that. An owner with a complaint or appeal still undecided when a lien sale's first list is issued is left out of that sale. Once a lien has been sold, disputes go to the lien holder, not DEP.

Where you see this in BlockLot

On a building's page, Tax liens under the records opens every appearance on DOF's lien-sale lists, with the notice stage, the month and a water debt only column saying whether the debt was water and sewer alone. The Compliance & distress signals card counts the lien-sale listings among the signals.

Every lien-sale listing, with whether the debt was water and sewer only.
The notice stage
Water and sewer debt only

Questions people ask

Who pays the water bill in New York City, the landlord or the tenant? The owner. The Water Board's rules make the owner responsible for every water and sewer charge, and a lease that says otherwise does not change what the City can collect from the building.

How much does water cost in New York City in 2026? From July 1, 2026, $5.35 per 100 cubic feet for water plus 159% of that for sewer — $13.86 together, about 1.9 cents a gallon. A typical one-family home pays about $1,300 a year.

Does an unpaid water bill stay with the house when it is sold? Yes. It is a lien on the property. A buyer protects against it with DEP's Title Read Letter before the closing.

Can the City sell a lien for unpaid water bills? Yes, once the debt passes the lien-sale thresholds — except on an owner-occupied one-family home that owes only water. There was no sale in 2026.

What happens if I pay the water bill late? Interest at the property-tax late rates — 6%, 9% or 16% a year by assessed value — compounded daily. An installment agreement of up to ten years stops a planned lien sale.

How do I dispute a water bill? Complain to DEP in writing within four years of the bill, then appeal within 120 days, and finally to the Water Board within 60 days.

Overdue property charges, interest and the tax lien sale — Overdue NYC property charges: late interest for FY 2026/27, payment plans, how the tax lien sale works, and why there was no sale in 2026.
Assessed value and how the NYC property tax is calculated — How New York City turns a market value into a tax bill — the four tax classes, the 6% and 45% assessment ratios, the yearly caps and five-year phase-ins, exemptions and abatements, the tax rates — worked through on a real building.
Property tax exemptions: STAR, senior, disabled, veterans, clergy, J-51, 421-a and 485-x — NYC property tax exemptions explained: STAR, senior and disabled homeowners, veterans, clergy, 421-a, 485-x, J-51 and nonprofit property.

Sources

By BlockLot. Reviewed October 9, 2026. Figures by BlockLot Intelligence, computed from public data on October 11, 2026. This page explains the rules in general; it is not legal or tax advice. For a decision about a specific property, check the official source or ask a professional. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.