Water Bill Payments

[dmb1978]

Hi all,

We pay all the bills ourselves for the IP except the water bill as the tenant is supposed to pay the usage and we just pay the connection/service and sewerage costs.

When the bill comes in to the PM instead of proportioning the cost to each party, it appears we get charged the whole amount and then I have to chase up the PM to have tenant pay the usage which can take months.

When i queried why they do this they said they cannot split the bill.

We received another water bill recently which was considerably lower and the tenants have since moved out. I assumed that we had only paid the right amount but receiving the hard copy of the bill today we have again paid the whole amount with the tenants no longer in place.

Does this seem correct and should I have to keep chasing this up every 3 months when the bill comes in?

 

[cmason]

contact the water company see if the usage component can be sent to the tenant(not sure if this is possible in your state, is in VIC)

 

[dmb1978]

Thanks CMASON, will have to contact them. The problem is the PM just pays out of our money and then goes after the tenant to pay us back as they don't have a pool of money to pay bills with so I would probably be in the same boat unless they can put the usage in the tenants name to send direct to them.

 

[cmason]

In Vic you are able to put usage bill in tenants name so it goes straight to them. I also have a property in Tas where you are unable to do this and the PM deals with charging the tenant usage once the full bill is paid

 

[Damien Cox]

If you've asked your PM to proportion the costs, then a process should have been put in place to ensure that happens for all future water bills for your property.

You shouldn't have to chase them up every time the bill comes in.

 

[Dylan33]

I receive the water bills (which are paid by direct debit monthly ) and forward the bill onto the PM to forward the usage portion onto the tenant. Works for us.

 

[Jacaranda]

I have an IP in Brisbane and the water consumption is clearly stated on the rates bills so that is forwarded to PM for tenant to pay. However if a tenant moves out before the bills arrive (Logan Council are about six months behind in their billing) the PM reads the water meter and charges accordingly from previous bill.