Changes to billing for rates and water in Qld

If you own property in Queensland, you may have noticed that now instead of getting just the one Rates notice from your local council that you are getting 2 notices - one from the Brisbane City Council and one from Queensland Urban Utilities. And no, your rates did not get any cheaper. They have just separated the water and sewerage component from the general rates.

Queensland Urban Utilities is the name of the water and wastewater business that will service the five local authorities of Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Somerset from July 2010. Queensland Urban Utilities will be jointly owned by the five councils and will operate as a statutory authority.

They claim there will be no increases to water charging in the current financial year. Qld Urban Utilities do not offer any discount for payment by the due date (that only applies to the BCC rates portion).

Property Searchers' affiliated asset managers, Property Minders, can handle payment of both your general rates and water rates from your rental monies prior to disbursement - at no extra charge to you. This often simplifies your accounting and gives you one less thing to worry about. We can also keep an eye on the water consumption for you and charge tenants for excess or full consumption as agreed with you.

Can I charge my tenants for their water consumption? The law changed in April 2009 when a new provision was introduced to allow landlords to recoup costs of water consumption from their tenants. However this provision is not well understood. There are strict criteria which must be met prior to charging and sometimes the cost/benefit of meeting those criteria is not worthwhile.

So firstly, what are the criteria?

1. Your property must be separately metered - this counts out all units and some townhouses, and
2. Your property must be ‘water efficient', and
3. the lease must provide for water charging - so in the actual lease you have agreed with your tenant that you will be charging for their water consumption (not the cost of providing water to the property) and how you will do it. That is our job.

How do I know if my property is water efficient? You will need a plumber to sign off on this for you. Your internal cold water taps and showerheads must have a maximum flow rate of 9 litres/min and toilets must have a dual flush function that does not exceed 6.5 litres on full flush and 3.5 litres on half flush. So if you do not have dual flush toilets, you will need to consider the expense of replacing them. The other measures are reasonably cheap to arrange.

What costs will I expect to recover for the expense of upgrading my property? An analysis done on a typical 4 bedroom home with pool (and water tank) revealed that the water consumption costs would return an extra $5-10 per week. In one period the water consumption cost was $110, the water access charge was $39 and the sewerage charge was $104. The only recoverable amount is the $110 and that is for a 13 week period.

The other point to bear in mind is that the billing for water is always retrospective. Your current water rates bill for the Jan-Mar quarter includes water charges for the previous quarter. Unless your property manager is reading the water meter at the start and end of tenancies, you will have no hope of recovering any amounts during the tenancy.

My recommendation? If your property qualifies already, consider charging for water. If you have a dual flush toilet but are not sure about the other criteria, request that our plumber make the necessary adjustments next time he is called to the property. Do not make a special call-out just for that. If you don't have dual flush toilets, don't bother!

Sometimes you are better charging for EXCESS water consumption only as this still encourages the tenant to care for your garden, while putting the onus back on them to report leaks at the property.

Please send any property management related questions to askus@propertyminders.com.au

Source: Jan Grant, Property Minders, 9 April 2010

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