Landlord Vs Tenant - Paying For Water

[marg4000]

Does anyone know anything about the new Unity Water fees for sewerage. Is there any reason why we shouldn't start to pass on those fees as well since they just upped the cost to owners by charging 90% of the water usage amount for sewerage on top of the water charge.

Legally sewerage fees can't be passed on to tenants. Neither can water connection costs, only usage.
Marg

 

[NBS]

Does anyone know anything about the new Unity Water fees for sewerage. Is there any reason why we shouldn't start to pass on those fees as well since they just upped the cost to owners by charging 90% of the water usage amount for sewerage on top of the water charge.

Usage and bulk is paid by Tenant. I just called it all "consumption".

 

[Angel]

Hi. After typing I re-read the RTA site and it states we cannot charge tenants for water and sewerage connection. I was under the impression that a year ago we could charge all these fees if the property met all the criteria. My bad, or have they changed it?

The current RTA fact sheet says we can charge state govt bulk water charge, and water consumption, but not the water and s. connection fee.

Have all the water suppliers altered their billing structure so that the bulk water charge is now only $56 (instead of nearly $200) and the sewerage connection is now around $200?

 

[marg4000]

Hi. After typing I re-read the RTA site and it states we cannot charge tenants for water and sewerage connection. I was under the impression that a year ago we could charge all these fees if the property met all the criteria. My bad, or have they changed it?

The current RTA fact sheet says we can charge state govt bulk water charge, and water consumption, but not the water and s. connection fee.

Have all the water suppliers altered their billing structure so that the bulk water charge is now only $56 (instead of nearly $200) and the sewerage connection is now around $200?

No, they haven't changed it.
Marg

 

[8arterc]

Slightly different leak i had to pay for

On a similar vein, one of our tenants received a bill for $1300 and questioned this with me. I was surprised as this was over $1000 more than usual. WE had a leak test carried out, and the fault was located to the AC unit having a faulty valve and pouring water down the drian for past 4-6 months. In WA water bills were every 6 months now they have changed to every 2 months. Water corporation only assist with rebates if the water pipes had been leaking not AC. Ended up having to pay this bill myself which wasnt pleasant. The only good news was that the leak wasnt under the house or patio which would have cost a fortune to repair and hassel.

Worth checking your rentals and making sure the valves on the AC units are working correctly.