BALTIMORE WOMAN INHERITED HOME WITH $228,000 WATER BILL
A woman inherited her late father’s home, then found it tied to a Baltimore water bill of about $228,000 for a whole neighborhood.
Kristina Moore’s home sits in Springwood Estates, a Northeast Baltimore community of 37 townhomes. Her fight with the city became public on July 15, 2026, when FOX45 detailed how the balance ended up attached to her property.
“When my father passed, I thought the house would be the easy part, but it clearly wasn’t,” Moore said.
She inherited the home in February 2026. She said she knew nothing about the debt until April 2026, when she found a city notice taped to the front door.
The notice warned that water service could be shut off within 45 days over the unpaid balance.
One meter, one address
Moore said the community runs on a single master water meter, and that the account is tied to her property’s address.
Residents do not get individual water bills from the city. They calculate their own use from readings in their basements and pay the homeowners association, which is supposed to pay Baltimore.
HOA President Regina Johnson confirmed that the HOA collects payments from residents and pays the community water bill. She said she could not explain how the balance topped $200,000 and declined further questions.
Moore’s realtor, Lisa Ciofani, said the community’s covenants and restrictions make the HOA responsible for the bill.
“And we provided the covenants and restrictions that clearly state that the HOA is in fact responsible for paying it,” Ciofani said.
Moore said she and Ciofani got a lien sheet from the Department of Public Works showing her property as responsible. She said the lien blocked her from selling until the balance was paid in full.
“They’re telling me my property is responsible for this bill, and I can’t sell it until it’s paid in full,” Moore said.
Ciofani said the goal was simple: “Our whole thing is just put the address for this meter back with the HOA.” She added, “I don’t understand how they can hold her liable for 37 properties.”
On May 28, 2026, a senior adviser in City Council President Zeke Cohen’s office sent an email. “We are moving things along. Ms. Regina has provided the documentation needed to get the lien off of the property,” the email said.
On July 8, 2026, the same office sent an update. The HOA had been approved for a payment plan, and “the lien will remain in place until the full balance is paid.”
The Department of Public Works, or DPW, first declined to answer account-specific questions, citing the Maryland Public Information Act and customer-account confidentiality.
“It’s overwhelming because they’re telling me my property has no value to it,” Moore said. She added: “This is my childhood home. I graduated from Morgan State. I work in the city, so I feel let down by the city. I think it’s sad.”
What happened next
On July 24, 2026, DPW acknowledged that the community uses a master-meter system. It said the HOA is responsible for managing its water account with the department.
On July 29, 2026, the mayor’s office said the HOA is legally responsible for the community’s outstanding water debt. It also said city records indicated Moore’s late father, whose property houses the master meter, had previously been responsible for the HOA. The office asked what happened to residents’ payments if they were not applied to the bill.
Moore told FOX45 her father had served on the HOA at one point but stepped down years earlier. She said the community water account was paid in full at that time.
State-filed paperwork from June 2026 listed Johnson with the HOA, while Moore’s property remained listed as the association’s principal office.
On October 12, 2026, FOX45 reported that city records name the HOA as the customer on the master water account. Baltimore City said so in correspondence quoted by the station.
“The account holder/customer in this case is the Springwood Estates Homeowners Association, not Ms. Moore individually,” the city wrote. “Therefore, Ms. Moore is not the customer of this account.”
The debt nevertheless remained attached to Moore’s property, leaving her unable to sell it. The city had not responded to FOX45’s latest inquiries.
