The water meter is presumed correct

It is not up to the syndicate of co-owners to provide elements allowing to judge that the invoice could correspond to the lifestyle of this inhabitant, explains the Court of Cassation.

The burden of proof, in this case, rests with the one who disputes and not with the one who claims, according to the judges and it is not a question of entering into a discussion on the way of life of the debtor.

They therefore dismissed the arguments of an owner who argued that he lived alone and that his alleged consumption was not plausible because it was equivalent to that of neighboring large families. This resident believed that the condominium should have proven that his lifestyle could justify such consumption.

It also does not matter, the magistrates said, that the condominium association has not undertaken a search for leaks in the common areas. However, he cannot be penalized by a rejection of his request for payment in the name of equity.

Nor can the judge cut the pear in half by charging, according to his own estimate, only part of the invoices presented by the manager. He must stick to the principle that the meter is true until proven guilty and it is up to the owner of this meter to prove the contrary by carrying out investigations to find a leak if necessary.

(Cass. Civil 3, 7.2.2019, V 17-21.568).