Water fight

You won't find many landlords who pay for their tenants' electricity or phone bills but in some states owners do find themselves paying for their tenants' water use, Australian Property Investor magazine’s August issue reveals.

Most states in Australia charge landlords for the water connection fees and annual service provision charges. The tenant is obliged to pay for all water used, except in South Australia and Queensland.

In South Australia, tenants generally pay for excess water charges after the first 136 kilolitres of water per year.

But property author Margaret Lomas tells API that landlords have to pay for the water consumption first and then if there’s an excess they have to try to recover the money from their tenants.

"I don't see why we (as investors) should have to pay for any of it at all," Lomas says. “The only fair system is where it's user-pays for all of the utilities."

In Queensland, the landlord bears the full cost of "reasonable" water use, although there are moves afoot to bring the state into line with the rest of Australia by having tenants pay for water used.

API editor Eynas Brodie says, "In this age of drought, water restrictions and climate change, a user-pays system for water seems like the most sensible option.

"If tenants have to pay for their own water then it seems logical that they'd be more conscious of how much they're using.

"Of course, if landlords expect tenants to maintain their gardens then they may need to come to some sort of cost-sharing agreement."

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source: rpdata.com