The Lantern Stair lease requires tenants to share cistern maintenance. It does not say whether that means equal shares, shares by room count or payment only when a household uses the cistern.
That distinction matters because a maintenance duty and a bill are not the same thing. The lease copies identify who must take part in a repair, while the maintenance ledger records the cost after the work is done. Neither record currently supplies a division rule.
The landlord points to the ward’s customary practice. The residents’ delegate points to the written clause. A customary arrangement may guide a repair, but without a dated amount it is difficult for either side to show how the bill was calculated.
The housing clerk is comparing the copies held by the landlord and tenants. A difference in wording would change the question from how to read the rule to which version was agreed.
What remains open is whether the city will require a formula in future leases or decide the current dispute under the practice already used in this ward.
