Water charges - Logan area

Hi somersofters, need your advice again ☺️

My understanding is that in logan area, tenant pay the charges for water consumption while charges for water infrastructure, sewage and garbage collection is property owner responsibility. Am I right?

My current tenant is leaving on next Sunday. He never paid for any water charges as I never demanded it from him neither mentioned in the lease. Today I told him politely that he may need to pay water consumption charges during his stay. He was not happy on this as we didn't had any conversation on this before he moved in my property. Can I recover water charges from his bond or no? Just to clarify, water consumption charges were not mentioned in the lease. So I think I legally may not allowed to recover this cost from bond. But I thought let's give it a shot.
 
To charge water consumption in Qld you must have the property certified water wise and it MUST be mentioned as a condition in the lease.

So no, you cannot claim for water usage from this tenant.
Marg
 
You can reduce water pressure by closing the main tap a little. I tell my tenants that they may increase the pressure if they desire so. I have found that many tenants do not like the 9 litres per minute flow, especially in the shower.
 
A plumber. They will also change whatever needs to be changed to be compliant. Or if you do it yourself perhaps you could present all the packaging for the water saving devices as proof to the real estate ;)

If you do the work yourself you will still need certification that everything is correct. Usually a plumber. It is a one-off cost.

Saving packaging is fine, but there is no proof that those devices were actually fitted to the property leased.
Marg
 
You can charge a tenant for water usage but if the property is not certified as being "Water Efficient", you can only charge for excess usage.

Our rate is usage for the tenant of anything of 30KL per quarter. This 30KL is what our local area deemed as average usage etc. So the landlord pays for the first 30KL each quarter and the tenants everything thereafter.

However, I encourage all of my landlords to have the property checked out by a plumber prior to tenants and have it made 'water efficient". You often recoup your costs fairly quickly as you can then charge your tenants for all of their water usage.

I have had a landlord do it himself and he provided the receipts of the efficient fittings however when the tenant challenged it in QCAT, we lost as we could not provide the certificate from the plumber. The magistrate deemed that there was no proof that those fittings were installed at that property and that they were enough to deem it efficient.
 
You can charge a tenant for water usage but if the property is not certified as being "Water Efficient", you can only charge for excess usage.

Our rate is usage for the tenant of anything of 30KL per quarter. This 30KL is what our local area deemed as average usage etc. So the landlord pays for the first 30KL each quarter and the tenants everything thereafter.

However, I encourage all of my landlords to have the property checked out by a plumber prior to tenants and have it made 'water efficient". You often recoup your costs fairly quickly as you can then charge your tenants for all of their water usage.

I have had a landlord do it himself and he provided the receipts of the efficient fittings however when the tenant challenged it in QCAT, we lost as we could not provide the certificate from the plumber. The magistrate deemed that there was no proof that those fittings were installed at that property and that they were enough to deem it efficient.

Thanks for clarifying. I will call current tenant and will take back my request to pay water charges.

Any idea how much $$ for certification for water efficiency including all equipment?
 
It really depends on what is required to fit the property to ensure it's water compliant. I've had invoices ranging from $150 to $400.

Best money you will spend, get this back fairly quickly.

If you need a contact in the Logan area, send me a PM. I use one specifically for Water Certificates as he is very cost effective.
 
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