Who usually pays for water in QLD - tenant or owner?

Hi all,

I've just purchased a house at Everton Park to rent out. The house has its own water meter. I know I can pass on water costs to tenants, but is that the norm? I'm trying to set a rental price but when comparing against other properties on realestate.com, none of them that I looked at mention whether water is included or not. Is there an assumption that tenants will have when searching through the lists and comparing weekly rental prices?

Thanks!

 

you can charge back for water if your house is compliant - better to get a certificate. Good PM could organise one for you

 

tenants will know that they have to pay for water usage as that is the norm, as long as the house is "water compliant". it is well worth making it water compliant if it is not already. I don't think tenants are taking that into account when looking at price. as mentioned by @samian - your property manager will sort it out for you

 

You can pass it on IF the property is water compliant and you have the certificate to certify that.

It cost me $79 for a plumber to come out, check, test and provide the certificate. May cost you more to actually make it compliant - dual flush toilets, restrictor pills etc, but it will be worth it in the long run.. my tenants use $250 of water per quarter!

 

My pm didn’t supply me with a water certificate when I signed the lease. Does that mean I don’t have to pay for water usage?

 

Please send me your plumber's details. Last price I received was $150, several years ago. Reading the RTA website, you do not require a plumber's certificate, there are other ways to prove water efficiency.

 

You can discuss this with the PM. There will be a clause in your lease stating that you are to pay for water consumption (or not). When you signed the lease, you were to be given a booklet from the RTA about your rights and responsibilities as a tenant (or download it from RTA website). This booklet will also have the water charging info in it. The RTA has another booklet for landlords - I expect every landlord checks the website occasionally for any updates.

Pocket guide for tenants - houses and units (Form 17a) | Residential Tenancies Authority

For managers of general tenancies | Residential Tenancies Authority

 

Thanks Angel

 

You will have to pay the fixed costs, but if the property is compliant you can pass on the usage charges.
Marg

 

Thanks for the information everyone, I'll get the property manager onto it next week.

 

Aptus Plumbing Brisbane

 

your tenant may be reluctant to pay for the water usage even you present them with the water cert. in this case deduct from their bond when they vacate

 

No, you can’t.
Read the post from @wylie
Marg

 

@JQ88, QCAT will only award water that was charged and enforcement actioned within six months of the amounts in question. The amounts charged also need to be charged within a reasonable timeframe, i.e. one month of receipt from council or utilities provider.

@jasonr, totally normal to charge full water consumption on properties these days. In my experience over the past couple of years, properties that charge excess only have become the exception rather than the norm.

Also, the requirement is that the house is compliant to a WELS 3-Star standard or greater, which is really not hard... basically just aerators on the kitchen and bathroom taps, double flush toilet and a half decent shower head.
The certificate isn't specifically required, but it's the usual method of proving the aforementioned. They also don't expire, unless someone retrofits a non-water-efficient plumbing fixture/fitting to the house down the track... which does happen- PM needs to keep an eye on the house to make sure the tenants don't remove aerators, change shower head, etc.

 

My tenants always pay for the water

 

Hi Jason,

These are my thoughts:

Pre-requisites to charge tenants for water
· Premise must be individually metered
· Water efficient taps and fittings (‘Wells’ 3 star and above rating, flow not more than 9L per minute, etc)
· Water-compliant, demonstrated by a plumber’s certificate (“Water Compliance Certificate”)
· Read more here from the RTA’s fact sheet on charging for water: https://www.rta.qld.gov.au/Forms-and-publications/Fact-Sheets/General-tenancy-fact-sheets/Water-charging-fact-sheet


Billing methodology
· Start reading is taken from water meter at beginning of tenancy, recorded on entry condition report
· During periodic inspections conducted every 3 months, interim readings are taken from the water meter
· Water usage is calculated from the two meter readings and invoiced appropriately at the applicable rate
· The applicable rate is published on the water supplier’s website – Eg. Google Urban Utilities Prices & Charges
· Charges payable by the tenant are the i) State Gov. Bulk Water charge & ii) Tier 1 Consumption*
· End of tenancy a final water meter reading is taken and they are invoiced accordingly/deducted from bond
*In my experience seldom do tenants exceed Tier 1, but if they do, Tier 2 & 3 can be charged it just gets a bit more complicated as the Tiered rate is applicable to a maximum 90-day period and routine inspections can only be done a minimum of every 3 months


Why I don’t use the water bill to charge the tenants
· Often in Community Title Schemes billing method for Body Corporate billing is in place, which means your water bill also contains a portion of the Common Property’s water bill, which the tenant is not liable to pay
· Further to that, the usage component you are billed for is often not associated with the actual usage from your lot, rather an amount calculated off your lot’s ‘contributions schedule’ as outlined in the Community Management Statement, put very very simply, think of an average between all lots, (where low users are subsidizing high users), and no way of knowing how much water was consumed from your actual lot
· With the above 2 points in mind, there is no tangible way to accurately and fairly bill the tenants for their water consumption from an invoice reflecting the above, and they can challenge it and win in QCAT
· Other issues with the suppliers’ bills are the billing period is different to the metered period and generally neither line up nicely with the start and end of a tenancy, and it is not correct to divide the bill by the number of days that do apply to the tenancy as there is no way of knowing if the usage occurred during their occupancy


Here is an example of the body of an invoice I generate for tenants to pay their water charges
Last Water Meter Reading: 907.758, taken on: 21/7/17, observed from: Water Meter (Routine Inspection)
Current Water Meter Reading: 926.837, taken on: 21/10/17, observed from: Water Meter (Routine Inspect.)

Consumption for Period (kL): 19.079
Billable Rate (kL): $3.50
Amount Owing: $66.78

Billable rate is Queensland Urban Utilities Prices & Charges 2016-17 (Brisbane)
https://www.urbanutilities.com.au/business/accounts%20and%20billing/prices%20and%20charges%202017%202018/prices%20and%20charges%202016%2017
(Tier 1 consumption $0.76 per kL + State Gov. Bulk Water charge $2.74 per kL = $3.50 per kL)


Also, by creating your own invoice you control the date of the invoice. Nothing in the Act talks about the 'how' or 'frequency' tenants must be billed for water (it would be safe to assume it must be reasonable though). With that said, I have successfully clawed back 18-24 months worth of unbilled water on a number of tenancies I took over managing where the previous manager simply didn't bother to invoice the tenants but the lease stated the tenant must pay for water and the owner is entitled to it. One tenant did dispute it, I made a claim against the bond, it then went to conciliation, the conciliator agreed with the merits of my argument (referring to the Act) as to why the tenant should pay, and then the tenant agreed to pay, thankfully.

 

(left out this paragraph and missed the edit window) Yes - normal to charge tenants for water. If the property can't be made compliant, usually on older properties where it is not economical or on some units which aren't individually metered, the approach is to bundle it in with the rent and use is as a selling point - 'water included' etc.

 

I pay for the water for my IP in Qld. The tenant has never had an excess water bill.