We've been renting this house for 2 years. Yesterday we received a water bill. The agent wants us to fwd payment to them, as the bill has been paid in full. I have no proof of this. The billing period was Nov 10 to June 11.
We've never been asked to pay for water usage in this house, or any for that matter. Our lease does not include any agreement that we will pay it. Our lease was renewed again in May. No mention of any changes, all appears to be the same. We weren't given any kind of notice that the landlord wished to change the agreement. No letter, ph call, zip.
I'm waiting for the agent to call me back. Can they make us pay this?! We weren't informed at all, and they want payment in 14 days. The agent totally downplayed my concern, and implied it wasn't much money and to just hand it over. I don't think this is right! Surely I have to sign an agreement before they can change the rules.
In our case the owner pays for the provision of services (sewage etc) and we pay for the water we actually use. But we are billed separately, I only ever get the usage bill direct from the provider.
But, I do think that it is odd that they demand that you pay a bill that isn't addressed to you or in your name. If you are responsible for paying water, the agent should have set it up with the provider so that you are billed directly.
Personally I would call Consumer Affairs (or the relevant body in your state) before doing anything. If you're unsure who to contact just google renters rights in your state and you should be able to find out from there.
In my region of council, they have recently changed how they charge for water rates - much, much more expensive than previously. Most people who own rentals started charging their tenants for any excess use as it is now so costly. Perhaps that's what's happened in your area too.
However, they surely wouldn't be allowed to start charging without first advising/changing the lease I would've thought.
There was nothing new on the last lease we were sent. No changes.
I'm not asking whether or not I should be responsible for our water usage. I get that we are. And that we've been lucky so far to not have to pay it. My issue is that they didn't give us any kind of warning, just sprung a bill on us. A bill which they've had since June.
I did hear the laws have changed in QLD and that the landlords can pass on usage costs to the tenant, but they don't have the right to do this without informing me first. As per our original agreement, I am not expected to pay this utility. Even though I'm not on a fixed lease, I still have a periodic agreement which operates under the same rules as our original lease. It's like they heard they can do this, and just decided to slog us with the bill out of the blue. I think that's really rude. If they expect us to pay for water usage, I will as of today. Not from November last year!
They can give me the adequate notice, and I'll comply. What I won't do, however.... is pay it just because they sent it to me, without some kind of explanation.
I still haven't heard anything back from the agent so she's either a) really busy b) not interested c) crap at her job.
im not sure abt QLD, but they would have to give you the proper notice of any intent of change to you're lease, if its not already stated.
if you're water meter is only to you're property you as the tenant have to pay the water usage/ landlord pays the sewage costs. thats just the law, it doesnt have to be in you're lease. so you would have to pay for the useage you have used, even past.
maybe give you're water supplier a call aswell.
if you're property manager is anything like mine, lazy lol
I would assume ANY changes have to be WRITTEN and sent to the tenants for them to sign. My friend is a property manager and everything has to be written and signed before any changes to anything are made. But I am in Melbourne.....
Lessors (landlords) are allowed to pass on the full water consumption costs to tenants provided all the minimum criteria have been met.
What are the minimum criteria for water charging?
Lessors will be able to pass on the full water consumption costs to tenants if:
the rental premises are individually metered (or water is delivered by vehicle), and
the rental premises are water efficient, and
the tenancy agreement states the tenant must pay for water consumption.
So I guess I'm in the clear. The agent said the landlord sent her the bill to have it chased up. I don't know if this is true or not, because honestly.......... he should know the laws. And he should know what our original agreement says. I thought he was a decent guy, but now I'm wondering. I feel like someone, either agent or landlord is trying to take advantage, and hoping I'll just pay it without questioning.
It's upsetting when people try to take advantage of you. And even worse when you don't know who's behind it all!
i'd contact the rental tenancies board in your state and ask them. even if you are required to pay for it, there might be a time-frame in which any changes of this nature have to be enacted. and that 14 days is too short a notice of those changes.
goodluck xx
FWIW with our rentals in QLD we never paid water. in the ACT and VIC we only ever paid usage (not services, sewage etc). remember that the real estate agent is only interested in the relationship with the landlord, they will push the landlords interests well before your own. the Rental board is the best number to call and query.
In the last place we rented we apparently had to pay the water bill at the end of our lease when we were moving out. The night before hand over of keys we were looking through the lease and discovered that on the last page it said we were to pay the water bill. We freaked out cause we had obviously overlooked this and we had no idea how much it would be.
When I was handing in the keys I mentioned it to the receptionist and she checked for me. She said normally we would have to pay and it would be taken out of our bond !! But since we had done alot of work for the land lords they were waiving the bill (3 years worth of water bill)
We were lucky in this case but we could easily have been caught out and left with next to no bond (I dont know how much the bills added up to)
How is the water metered at the property? Is it a shared meter? For example we used to live in a unit of 8 & we all shared a meter. As you can not accurately know who has used what water the landlord has to pay all charges. The water company take a reading and splits the bill by how many properties are serviced by that meter. If it is a one on one meter than normally the landlord pays, sewage, parks etc and the tenants pay the water usage. It would be like any other service ie Elec, Gas as it is what the tenant has consumed. I do remember when we sold our unit & put a lease on for 6 mths as the house we purchased had a tenant the new owner was a bit shocked at the cost of the water bill and asked us how we wanted to pay. I explained to them that it wasn't up to us to pay. It also states on the bill that it cannot be passed on to tenants. In that 6 months we paid annuals, sewage etc for our new house & the tenant paid for water consumed by them.
Sorry just saw you are on the Gold Coast so it maybe different.
Last edited by Hansie; August 31st, 2011 at 10:31 AM.
: Just saw location
On our lease the first page of the condition report had a thing about water, I had to record the water meter reading as I entered the property for the first time. It stated that we were responsable for the entire water bill. BUT where a property was NOT fitted with a water saving toilet or shower heads then we they can not charge us.
I thought this meant they can not charge us AT ALL. But then we got a bill. RE said its the excess. I don't mind paying it seems there is 7 of us! But Im sure that is not how it reads on the lease but I haven't been bothered to get it out & double check. But the RE explained that in the event that water saving things are not fitted then we are only responsible for the excess. I think thats fair enough.
But if you have your lease in front of you & there is nothing in reference to the water bill then I don't think they can make you pay it. They can not just assume you knew about it after 2 years of nothing.
In SA, owners/landlords pay up to a certain amount of supply and usage (first 136 kilo litres of the year) and then above and beyond that the tenant must pay any amounts above. This is when there is no other agreement in place, as set out by the Residential Tenancies Act. Sewerage charges are always the responsibility of the owner/landlord in SA.
When there is an agreement in place, landlords MUST provide notice as bills become due.
Contact the rental tribunal for your state (in SA its the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs) to find out what's in place for QLD. I think it's the Residential Tenancies Authority (a qld.gov website). I googled it and it has a FAQ section, stating new laws, but they must be part of your rental agreement from what I can tell.
I'll try to answer everything without missing anyones questions, but DS is crying so I have to be super fast!
The property is a house, so the meter isn't shared with any other properties. We don't have water saving fittings as far as I know. I can't find a full copy of my entire lease document....... but I do have the renewal notice. There was a box ticked saying 'rent remains unchanged' and there was no mention of any water bills. I also did not receive any separate letter advising me of the change.
Am I mistaken though, in thinking that changes can only be made at the beginning of a new lease???? In which case, they should have told me about this in May? I have had a change-over in property manager though.... the lady who used to take care of us no longer works there, and I have some random new woman who isn't familiar with us at all.
I might just add that yes, she DID take the landlords side, and started trying to get me to have sympathy for them, saying it's not fair for them to pay our water bill. Ok, fair enough, but he's been doing it all this time, why the sudden change? I told her my only issue is with not being told in advance, and the expectation for us to pay almost immediately.
She's going to look through our full document today and get back to me. As far as I'm concerned, if there's no mention of us paying for water, they can shove this bill up their derierres. Fair enough if they want to change the deal, but they need to submit that to us IN WRITING, and wait for my agreement. When that happens, and ONLY when that happens, I'll be responsible for any water usage charges in future.
Also, I won't be paying any bills that aren't in my name, or addressed to me. I haven't even seen the entire invoice. They've sent me the back half of it and it says clearly at the top 'THIS IS NOT AN INVOICE'.
I'm going to go and have a little sook...... I'm really getting tired of things like this happening to us. We can never get ahead financially because every cent we save is ALWAYS eaten up by things like this. I wouldn't feel half as bad if this was due to my own stupidity or poor planning. But when people start springing stuff like this on you, it's sucky. Come on universe, I've had a really hard year! Give me a break and stop throwing stupid little problems like this my way. I've got bigger fish to fry!
[ADVICE] Can they make us pay this???
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that 14 days is too short a notice of those changes.
(3 years worth of water bill)
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