I am a new investment property owner. I bought a house on 28.1.2012 and got it rented on February 2012 for 6 months. I have followed the requirements required by the Fair Trading NSW by using the standard tenancy contract downloaded from the Fair Trading and by submitting the bond to the Fair Trading. My tenant is a real estate agent so I was quite believe in him when signing the contract. When it reached to the water usage part, as I have been living in unit and the water bills are paid by the landlord, so I assume I have to pay the water usage for the tenants, and my tenants agree that the landlord should pay for the bills.
However, recently I just received a bill from Sydney Water for the period of 30/11/2011 - 27/2/2012, it costs $600+.As the house settled on 28/1/2012, Sydney Water has requested to previous owner to pay up to 27/1/2012 so I have $150 credit for the settlement adjustment, so I ended up paying $480 for one month water bills (since the previous owner has paid up to 27/1/2012, the $480 is for the period of 28/1/2012 - 27/2/2012). I have checked the average water bills for this property with Sydney Water for past 2 years, the fixed charges and water usage was approximately $300 per quarter, in average $100 per month.
If the water bill for this tenant is around $300 per quarter, I am fine with it. However, as the bill hits to $1500 per quarter (based on the pro rata calculation, $500 per month X 3 months), it is extraordinary high water usage for this tenant.There are 4 ppl in the house, avr water usage for 4 ppl in one quarter is 85kL, but these 4 ppl use 600kL in one quarter.I know I can not do anything while the tenancy contract is not expired yet (The contract is going to be expired on end of July). But I really want to know, once the tenancy contract is expired, is it legal if I sign a month by month contract by passing on the water usage after the end of this 6-months as I want to observe whether the tenant still wasting the water so I do not want to stay in the long term contract. How can I prove about the water efficiency. I check the website states if the water flow is less than 9 L per minute than it is okay to pass on, do I need to find a plumber to check the water efficiency or just check tab by tab (i.e bathtub, laundry, kitchen etc)?
Thanks heaps for your reply
However, recently I just received a bill from Sydney Water for the period of 30/11/2011 - 27/2/2012, it costs $600+.As the house settled on 28/1/2012, Sydney Water has requested to previous owner to pay up to 27/1/2012 so I have $150 credit for the settlement adjustment, so I ended up paying $480 for one month water bills (since the previous owner has paid up to 27/1/2012, the $480 is for the period of 28/1/2012 - 27/2/2012). I have checked the average water bills for this property with Sydney Water for past 2 years, the fixed charges and water usage was approximately $300 per quarter, in average $100 per month.
If the water bill for this tenant is around $300 per quarter, I am fine with it. However, as the bill hits to $1500 per quarter (based on the pro rata calculation, $500 per month X 3 months), it is extraordinary high water usage for this tenant.There are 4 ppl in the house, avr water usage for 4 ppl in one quarter is 85kL, but these 4 ppl use 600kL in one quarter.I know I can not do anything while the tenancy contract is not expired yet (The contract is going to be expired on end of July). But I really want to know, once the tenancy contract is expired, is it legal if I sign a month by month contract by passing on the water usage after the end of this 6-months as I want to observe whether the tenant still wasting the water so I do not want to stay in the long term contract. How can I prove about the water efficiency. I check the website states if the water flow is less than 9 L per minute than it is okay to pass on, do I need to find a plumber to check the water efficiency or just check tab by tab (i.e bathtub, laundry, kitchen etc)?
Thanks heaps for your reply