WA water useage

[goddessk]

Hi all, have emailed my PM in WA however she hasn't responded yet so thought some WA IP owner forumites might be able to help.

I have received my first water account and it has sewerage, water service charge and drainage, all separate. I have a unit in WA. It has several options to pay however I just paid the full year.

Is the water service charge the useage and do you charge tenants for useage in WA in unit blocks? If so, would I charge them by quarter for the time that they occupy the unit?

Have never owned a unit as an IP before so a little confused on this front.

 

[redwing]

Sounds like your water rates (cost borne by you) your water usage should be sorted out as a % in your tenancy agreement (0% for a unit is what i go with).

Redwing

 

[<KS>]

I called the water-corporation and simply told them I owned the unit but leased it to a tennant and gave them the tennants information.

Since then they send me the bill for the rates, but they post the water usage costs directly to the tennant.

This is in the case of a self managed property, you may want to spell it out slowly if you want a PM to organise this for you.

<KS>

 

[goddessk]

Thanks guys. Interestingly the PM came back and said all water costs need to be borne by me.

 

[duncan_m]

Thanks guys. Interestingly the PM came back and said all water costs need to be borne by me.

Well.. even a quick google seems to indicate that is wrong:

http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/default....s/paying_water&menu=cp_business&sub=landlords

If the meter is shared and the cost apportioned amongst the units then other issues may be in play that arent immediately clear.. the docep website is silent on this issue..

Like so many PM's, this one possibly sucks too.

 

[goddessk]

Thanks Duncan. Appreciate the info. I think I will look into it a bit further.

 

[yadreamin]

We have it written into our lease that tenant pays water usage.This is an owners choice not the pm.It also makes the tenant think about not wasting water. A seperate account is sent to the tenant quarterly.Meter readings between tennants is our cost.about $35 from memory.We had a tenant who would never pay the water usage account on time and we were being charged interest so our pm now pays the account direct and on time, then recovers the amount from the tenant.Water usage is always a seperate account from the water rates.
cheers yadreamin

 

[goddessk]

Sorry all. I got a little confused. The bill that I received included a water service charge, not water useage. Sorry, misinterpretation as it's different to what we have in NSW. Apparently my water useage is charged in strata fees (like mine are here in NSW) and then I can request the tenant to pay a portion of that cost.

 

[Lizard King]

Who pays for water?

Comrades

Reading all of the above, here is my 2c worth.

CASE 1
We have a unit in West Perth among 53 others. There is only one water meter installed at this address. The water consumption of the entire complex of 53 units is divided by 53 by the Strata Manager and paid for in our strata levies. You tell me, is it fair that a single occupant in say a 1BR unit pays the same as say 4 occupants in a 3BR unit? Not fair, I say.

CASE 2
We have recently had tenants move out of another property.
To get the Water Corp to take a special reading inbetween tenants would have cost me $12.50. So I just found out from Water Corp when and what the last reading was, read the meter at the property when tenants moved out and multiplied by 42.5c per KL (for consumption < 150KL pa- as was their case) and charged them accordingly. Sweet.

We pay all rates but ask consumption to be billed directly to tenant, even though some PMs prefer that bills come to the PM/You -'in case tenant does not pay'. I think otherwise, of course.

The Lizard King