I have an IP which is a unit in a group of 5.
Because there is no separate water meters, the water company say the tenant is not liable for the apportionate charge.
It appears all have to agree to install separate meters however only one other of the 5 wants to do this.
Any sugestions what to do here?
The reason they don't want to do it is that the cost of getting water meters installed is far greater than the water usage charge itself. for example:
The cost of getting a radio-controlled water meter (needed if the water pipes are in the rear yards which are inacessible to the water-meter-reading-staffperson… so they instead stand in the street and somehow read it remotely) is currently about $300. Then of course you have to pay a plumber to come and install it, make an ammendment to the pipe and so forth. So you won't get out of it for less than at the very least, $400.
The cost of water usage in a unit is about $25 a quarter. So it'd take you four years just to get your money back, before you start making any savings.
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Yes you are right on the money. The other ownersdont want the up front cost. However there is a saving for them in that the water is equally charged to all the unitsso those who use less than thier share are being unfairly charged. As there is 6 people in my unit, all the others are paying for thier showers! But even taking this into account, the payback period for them is several years.
Hang on… these units are all on separate titles, yes? Aren't they required to have separate water meters?
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Hang on… these units are all on separate titles, yes? Aren't they required to have separate water meters?
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Hi Jac yes they are on separate titles. They were built in the early 80's'. It must not have been a requirement back then for them to be separately metered….
But when were they strata titled?
Maybe give your water company a call and find out if they are aware of the separate titles. One of my water companies likes to apply a service charge per dwelling, regardless of whether it is stata-d or not.
I was sure that a requirement of strata-titling was splitting all service meters…
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
either way… even if you had your own meter, you could only pass the water usage charge on to the tenant (which is small). you cannot pass on the service charges. as the landlord, you stll have to pay those.
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
it is quite common for strata units not to be individually metered – it means running separate metered water supplies to each unit. In this case, the water usage forms part of your levies.
I had a similar situation for a unit of mine in South Africa.
What the body corporate did is split the total water bill by the number of occupants in the complex. If the water bill was $200 and their were 10 occupants, each occupant in the complex was liable for $20.
If unit A had 5 occupants, the owner was liable for $100, if unit B only had 1 occupant, that owner would only be liable for $10.
This charge could get billed to the occupants of your property.
Make sense.
I had the same issue. As mentioned above the payback period to implement the separation is too great.
As a result I made it part of the tenancy agreement that the tenant shall be liable for usage. Had no issues with this approach.
I’d watch that last suggestion, if there is no meter then in NSW at least, it is not possible to pass on the cost under the tenancy agreement. You might consider putting in your own submeter & the required water efficiency requirements.
My IP is in Victoria.
Not sure what the issue is if you have made the tenant aware of the requirement prior to commencing the lease. No issues if its mutually agreed.
The issue is that you cannot agree to contract out of a statutory obligation ie if you want to recoup water usage in NSW, you must install water efficiency devices & be separately metered as any magistrate at fairtrading nsw would rule it would be inequitable to charge a tenant some cost which may not relate to their occupation of the premises.
Charging by number of occupants implies charging by occupancy also, a minefield grey area of legal argument and interpretation, as some people's lifestyle and career involves travelling for lengthy periods.
I would instal metering immediately and pass on all legally allowable costs thereafter to the tenant.
The water usage would drop immediately, funny that eh, that would be the tenants' cost saving, and water costs would never be your problem again, and surely (?) any costs you can't recoup from tenants are tax deductible and / or depreciable.Cheers
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