Water Leak on property, who pays for usage? QLD

ok, so 2017 has been pretty bad so far, maintenance, insurance, damage has been rife
in the past few weeks, ive had a new fence, a new hot water system, a new heater and now the latest is a mssive bill from a burst water pipe

so the pipe is on hte property and it leaked, some overpriced plumber came out at some weird time I assume, and did $3k of repair in a few hours,

ive copped that, now the water usage is over $1k,

I submitted a discount on the usage , but they say I have to be living there,
however I have all my council stuff been sent there by accident so am going to claim I live there

I already expect the worst, so im half ranting
but, am I seriously lialbe for this water bill as well!

 

Why isn't it on your LL insurance claim?

 

I doubt LL insurance is to cover this sort of thig
if the tenant didnt pay and did a runner, yes, but not for this,
unless im wrong

 

@TMNT for me it would depend on how much notice you had of the leak and how long it took you to fix it.

If you were advised of a leak/broken pipe and you sat on it for 2-3 months then sure you would need to fork out the full amount.

However it is up to the tenants to advise you of any damage caused to the property as you cannot inspect the property on a daily basis like they can.

If the leak was visible or mushy ground in normal area (e.g. lawn and not in a garden bed) there is responsibility from the tenant. If you are using a PM and the PM held off telling you about it for a week they also have some part in it.

Depending on the circumstances which you would know but I would consider getting the tenant to pay 50% of the difference between what their usage was for the same period last year (unless there have been changes) or the last period and this one ($1,000). E.g. if normal usage for them is $300 I would go 50/50 on the $700 or $350 you and $650 them (300 + 350).

 

I dont know the exact time frame, but minimum 2days, maximium 4 days,
Which I think is very good,
just frustrates teh hell out of me, that the landlord seems to do and pay for all of the work

and the practicailities of it all are a headache too

 

Sydney water require the party for the bill to pay for all water use if it runs through a meter unless the meter is defective (best on is a jammed meter - A freebie....Who would report it !). Any leak on the supply side of the meter is the occupants issue. In NSW the tenant pays for the water use (not the sewer and supply charges) and puts the onus on addressing a leak in their wallet.

 

I've heard there is some recourse through Hunter water if there is a hidden leak and the water bill can be waived, not 100% on it though.

 

You can't blame the tenant for a burst pipe.
If you can't arrange relief from the supplier then I'm afraid the expense will fall on you.
Marg

 

I'm not sure where the property is located, but in QLD Urban Utilities will often have mercy on you and discount the bill significantly depending on the circumstances.

$3,000 for the plumber is insane, even for a weekend!? What did they do!?

 

theyre saying im ineligbile because its not a PPOR, which I think is ludicorous

yeah, they reckon they redid an entire lining of pipe, or some thing along those lines

 

@TMNT - sounds more like removing the lining from your wallet.

Never heard of relining small bore pipes. @bob shovel ?

 

ok ,
so im having yet another argument with an agent, admittedly this agent is a good one, and a first argument

so I had to pay a heap to get the pipe fixed
Now I get a water bill,
the utilities company is not giving me a discount because I dont live there
I pass the water bill on to the tenant, and the agent comes back to me, because its a burst water pipe, we cant charge them the full, how about just the usual water bill,

so Ive gotten screwed on the repair, I got screwed on the lack of concession for usage
and now the water bill,

surely, the landlord cant be screwed at every point, especially since I did fix it quite quickly

 

Insurance? Not sure which one but if you have LL and house then I would assume one of them would cover it.

If the thing was burst and clearly visible but the tenant didn't turn off the water then I would argue they purposely wasted natural resource and contributed to the expense so they should be 1/2 of the excess (difference of their normal usage).

If it wasn't visible then I would be arguing with the water authority you did everything within your means to reduce this and if you were made aware earlier from them you could of actioned it sooner so they are also at fault so should reduce.

Best of luck

 

Surely a tenant can't be expected to pay for water they didn't use?

 

The general rule is that the tenant can't be charged water for a period that there was a major leak. If there was a minor leak you can get a report from the plumber estimating the amount of water that was lost to the leak and subtract that from the total, but in this case it would be nearly impossible to guess. I'd be trying to negotiate with the tenant to pay an amount similar to their previous water invoice.

You wont be able to argue that the tenants contributed to the cost because they didn't turn off the water meter. Tenants aren't expected to change a light bulb, let alone know where their water meter is...

 

Can't see how you are being "screwed".

It is your property. You are responsible for repair bills, any anything that goes wrong that is not due to tenant negligence.

Who do you expect to pay your bills?
Marg

 

I don't think @TMNT is arguing over paying for it but more should he be paying it all.

I had a water bill on my PPOR one time and it was over 3k but I only ended up paying 1k - don't have exact numbers but it was 5 years ago.

As a LL we cannot inspect a property each and every day so require the tenant to notify us of any damages. If they don't let us know of damages then they have some responsibility in my eyes but if the tenant notified of the damage and TMNT did nothing about it then the tenant did all that they could so TMNT would be up for it all.

If the water was not visible then it makes it hard for the tenant to let the LL know which means the LL cannot resolve it but the water company can tell if the usage has increased so they would need to notify (I've received notices from 2 different water companies before) and if they did then we go back to tenant checking especially for a leak there would be some water or very soft ground somewhere.

 

yes I guess im feeling a bit jibbed on the whole situtaion,

ive got a huge plumbing bill which I attended asap,
then im not getting a discount on the usage because I dont live there (not sure what the difference is whether I do or not)
and now I have to pay for all teh usage associated when it could have been partially actual water consumption by the tenant (cant be proved other wise)

just frustrating when its $5k all up , and I seem to be losing the benefit of the doubt each step of the way

 

I would go to the ombudsman and see if they go take it any further for you. Even though its an investment a burst pipe under ground is not something a tenant would identify straight away. I would be taking it further and seeking some sort of dispute resolution and compensation for the water usage. It was acted on straight away by a bloody expensive plumber( I would be asking for a detailed explanation and break down of fees and charges) it has not been left. This should go in your favour.

 

I would talk to the tenant.
Offer to send them a bill for the water use, then they can apply for the PPOR exemption, that will make the water board think !
Hopefully they get it waived, a win for the tenant, a partial win for you (though i wouldnt be putting the rent up any time soon, as a thanks)