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I own a unit in a self managed block of 8 2bedroom units.We only have one water meter. Our bill has been paid from the body corporate fund. However, the bills are now exceeding $1000 per quarter which is eroding the committee’s ability to perform other work.
Are we legally able to divide this amount between number per head in each unit? As there is one unit with 7 people living in it (another issue…)
A plumber has been to inspect our meter and to check for any leakages.
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You would need a by-law changing the basis on which water usage was calculated (and I’m not 100 percent sure that would be legal) but even if you got the 75 percent of owners to agree, how would you be able to check how many people were actually living in a unit without their cooperation? In short, I don’t think the head (or bed) count method will work.
A more elegant solution may be to pass a by-law allowing owners to install approved individual water meters at their own expense, but for their water usage to then be extracted from the general bill, and based on their general usage.
Written into any such agreement would be clauses about the integrity of the meter and its availability for inspection.
Gradually, then, the over-users would be isolated and would be paying an amount that truly affected their water usage. Retro-fitting water meters is neither cheap nor easy but it does make the system a lot more fair and is good for the environment too.
An ‘opt-in’ system would get round issues with meter reading and enforcement.
Have a look here to give yourself an idea of what’s available.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Water is becoming a contentious issue in strata where most of us only have one water meter for the building.
Even if it is legal, I don’t think attempting to split the bill by the number of occupants is equitable either. Someone who is water-conscious and has 3-minute showers with an efficient showerhead running at 9 litres/minute can still end up subsidising those having 10-minute showers under inefficient heads running at 30 litres/minute.
Your water consumption does appear to be excessive. If for example you’re under Sydney Water that is currently charging $2.13 per kilolitre, a rough calculation shows your usage to be around 320 litres/bedroom/day. This is on the high side according to the recent benchmark data for apartments. More information on that is at http://www.greenstrata.com.au/category/know-where-your-water-used.
There are several options you could consider. Unfortunately none of them are quick and easy, and they’re also dependant on how your building is plumbed, and how old it is. A very quick summary of them is:
(1) Eliminate a single cause
If your consumption increased dramatically at some stage, there could be a serious leak or a problem with the meter. You’re obviously on to that one with what your plumber is doing. Some buildings in the past noticed huge increases when their water meters were changed, because there was a faulty batch.
(2) Individual water meters
This is the ideal equitable situation, but has physical, logistical and cost issues. If you want to spend time investigating this I suggest you talk to your water utility first. If it is physically possible depending on how your building is plumbed, you also need to have assurance that your water utility will have easy access to and will actually read the meters. The cost of doing this will also depend very much on your current plumbing.
(3) Individual sub-meters
The next-to-ideal solution. Your water utility would still bill your owners corporation for total water consumption, but you’d allocate each apartment’s share by reading the sub-meters yourself. So there are upfront installation and ongoing administration costs.
(4) Building-wide water efficiency project
Sydney Water’s study identified that over 90% of building-wide consumption is within apartments (info on this also at the above link). The steps to decrease consumption are the same as in houses – water-efficient fixtures, fittings and equipment. It’s just more difficult to achieve because you can’t force people to make changes inside their apartments. What you can do however is make easier for them.
A common approach these days is for the owners corporation to pay for and organise services such as Sydney Water’s WaterFix (https://www.sydneywater.com.au/Water4Life/InYourHome/WaterFix/index.cfm) . The payback on that is generally less than 12 months so it’s well worth the effort.
I know of a 70’s building of 14 units that reduced its consumption by 47% by facilitating the WaterFix and Toilet Replacement services (replacing single flush with dual-flush toilets) building-wide.
(5) Annual inspection of all units
Unfortunately some occupants don’t do anything about leaks until they’re drastic and have also caused other damage. In a lot of cases we know of terrible leaks that no-one knows about until occupants change. An annual inspection for leaks, combined with inspecting those parts of common property that can only be seen from within an apartment, are beneficial both for keeping on top of consumption and also budgeting for common property maintenance.
(6) Pass a by-law to avoid overcrowding
Seven occupants in a 2-bedroom apartment are too many. Overcrowding is a growing issue that not only impacts water consumption by also fire safety. Many buildings are facing this problem and are implementing by-laws that restrict occupancy to 2 adults per bedroom.
Cheers
Chris
@adro said:
Chris Surely it is too late to raise a by-law once the 7 are already installed in the unit?It may be too late for that unit but sooner or later the tenancy will change. Also, you don’t want your building to get a reputation for being a soft touch when it comes to over-crowding. If you think it might be an issue in the future, get it done now. Meanwhile, you could be talking to your local council about the overcrowding as they may have policies already in place.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
It is possible to get retro-fit water meters for individual units that simply replace the existing main tap. You don’t even need a plumber to install them.
There are even models with remote radio reading of the meters.
Here are a couple of examples of basic models:
https://www.zenner.com/products_fittings_water-meters.html
(See “Valve type MC”)
Yes, you can retro-fit but then you have to decide who’s going to read them. If you want every apartment to have a meter and then have it read by the water supplier, it’s going to possibly create some access issues. If you want to have the meters installed on a voluntary basis with those who opt in charged for actual water use by the Owners Corp and those who opt out charged on a pro rata basis, then access isn’t so much of an issue as anyone who has ameter would be happy to let it be read.
By the way I heard someone from Sydney Water tell a conference last year that the wireless meter readers aren’t yet 100 percent reliable.The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Based on my research electronic meters (such as one of those I mentioned) work by sensing a magnetic pulse every time the internal impeller rotates. Assuming that they do actually sense the pulse then they will be as accurate as a mechanical meter.
That just leaves the radio transmission of the stored data, which these days is virtually foolproof, with various types of error detection and correction.
They are mostly designed to be read once a year and generally work by having a “read date” stored in them when they are initialised. They accumulate the data from that date until the same date the following year. The stored data is then read on or after that date.
The local water authority is unlikely to do such readings. It would be up to the Owners Corporation.
Note that installation of the meters need not be optional. The incoming water pipe and tap is common property. The OC is completely within its rights to mandate the installation of such a meter by way of a Special Resolution, under Sect. 65A of the Act.
The only possible problem would be that an owner could remove the meter and install a tap for part of the year. In the case of radio meters it would be easy to detect via regular checks, which would reveal that the reading had not changed over a period of time. They may also have built-in tamper detection.
It was suggested below that the OC could implement a By-Law imposing a limit on the maximum number of residents. Unfortunately (in the case of tenants) that would contravene Sect. 49 of the Act as it represents a restriction on the lease.
It is an interesting situation though. If such a By-Law was passed it would only apply to owners, not tenants, thanks to Sect. 49.
Methinks the current Government review of the Act needs to look at the situation. Although with the current push for higher and higher housing density maybe they would consider it acceptable for Australia to sink to third-world standards and have ten people sleeping in each bedroom…
@pmo said:
Based on my research electronic meters (such as one of those I mentioned) work by sensing a magnetic pulse every time the internal impeller rotates. Assuming that they do actually sense the pulse then they will be as accurate as a mechanical meter.True, but they are also a lot more expensive than the old-fashioned analogue in-line meter that measures the actual physical flow of water — $120-150 for the latter compared to $990+ for the electronic ones, according to this website. AND you have the cost and hassle of installation.
Clamp-on meters are a lot easier to install but they cost about $4500 which would pretty much rule them out except for the purposes of, say, testing water flows to different buildings in the one complex.
And don’t forget that for some buildings you’d be measuring both hot and cold water flow since many have a shared water heating system. The cost may be prohibitive.
That just leaves the radio transmission of the stored data, which these days is virtually foolproof, with various types of error detection and correction.
The Sydney Water spokesman I heard speak was less convinced about the reliability of these meters but the technology is improving all the time so that shouldn’t be an issue.
Note that installation of the meters need not be optional. The incoming water pipe and tap is common property. The OC is completely within its rights to mandate the installation of such a meter by way of a Special Resolution, under Sect. 65A of the Act.
Obviously, if the vast majority of owners (75% of those voting on the necessary by-laws) are in favour of fixing individual meters then opting in or out isn’t an issue. But when you look at the numbers for whom there is no clear benefit from this expenditure – eg, landlords, large families and heavy water users generally – it might be tough to get such a radical change approved. I could be wrong but you might be able to persuade enough people to allow modest amounts to be spent – and the by-laws to be amended accordingly – to permit an opt-in scheme. But imposing the shared cost of installation PLUS the prospect of realistic charges for their share of water might be too big a leap for the water wasters to take.
The only possible problem would be that an owner could remove the meter and install a tap for part of the year. In the case of radio meters it would be easy to detect via regular checks, which would reveal that the reading had not changed over a period of time. They may also have built-in tamper detection.
Agreed. That’s why accessible external meters should be included at the planning stage – and local councils, if they are serious about this, should be insisting on it as part of DAs. I am told on good authority that one Sydney apartment block developer recently put up a proposal to have one water meter, one gas meter and one electricity meter for the whole building, to save the expense of individual meters for each apartment.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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