This!Send them a breach notice
And This!Get the water bill sent to the real estate rather than you so they take care of it.
Exactly!Spot on, if it's all agreed in the contract then you follow the same process as if the contract was breached, as if they were not paying rent or having arrears.
We've done this at times with tenants that have difficulty paying.Divide the outstanding by 12 weeks and suggest they pay this amount in addition to their rent to cover water usage and continue with this set up for each bill of water usage, if suitable and accepted by parties involved.
If you allow the water bills to build up and deduct from bond there is nothing left to have as security in the event you need to claim from the bond.
NO! They are not excellent tenants.They sound like excellent tenants so personally I would tread with caution.
If you want to grow a portfolio of properties, you need to treat it as a Business. Letting tenants out of their obligations for whatever reason is not the way that a Business would proceed. You are NOT a charity! Don't act like one!
A tenant will not up & leave a property because they have been asked to pay their $130 water bill. That just does not make sense. Everywhere they go, they will use water, so they just need educating that this their responsibility and not yours.
Sending them a breach is just like you receiving a reminder notice of a bill that's been left a little late. If you were with Optus & got a reminder notice, would you take your bat & ball & go switch to Telstra? No! You'd just pay your bill. This is exactly the same!