Housemates and Water Bills

ThatKiwiFella on 10/09/2018 - 17:05

Hi there

I’m a housemate in a house living with the owner.

First time renting in Australia. He has just received the water bill and I noticed that there are the usage charges and then service charges.

For this particular bill, service charges which include water and waste water, are about $250 give or take. The usage charges are about $100.

In this case, would I split the whole amount, being $350, 50/50 between me and the owner or would I only pay for half of the usage charge, which would cost me $50?

Thank you

Home & Garden

Comments

  • dcep on 10/09/2018 - 17:11

    depends on what has been agreed upon

    generally, split whole amount as the service charge includes sewerage where they purify your pee and pump out your shit

  • carlJack on 10/09/2018 - 17:19
    -5

    You split only water usage charges not the service charges.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/09/2018 - 20:17
      -1

      Says someone who has never lived in shared accommodation.

      • carlJack on 10/09/2018 - 21:08
        +1

        sorry..yes. I have only 10 years experience in shared accommodation.

  • dasher86 on 10/09/2018 - 17:22

    you split usage, and service charges.
    you do not split waterway charges, parks fees etc.

  • hawkeye on 10/09/2018 - 17:26
    +5

    Why would he pay service charge? the landlord would have to pay that whether the place was leased or not.

  • djkelly69 on 10/09/2018 - 17:28
    +7

    In a normal rental situation, you would only pay for consumption (ie. the $100), so in this situation half of that. But this is subject to what it says in your agreement (assuming you have one).

  • readeral on 10/09/2018 - 17:28
    +1

    If you're formally renting, your rental agreement would likely say you're only liable for water usage, not the service charges. If you don't have a rental agreement, then 1. get one and 2. you're probably splitting the whole thing.

    Everywhere I've rented, the water bill has been emailed to me by the agent requesting payment of the water usage only. Regardless of whether you live with the owner or not, if you're renting, it should only be usage.

    • payton on 10/09/2018 - 19:26

      Exactly this, for formal agreements. And LLord can only charge usage from the get-go if the place is water efficient.

  • mysterytal on 10/09/2018 - 17:30
    +1

    I would agree to split just the water usage charges as most tenants just pay for usage.

    The fixed service charges should have been accounted for in the rent. Same goes with Council rates, home insurance, maintenance, tax…etc. They should also be accounted for in the weekly rent and not requested separately.

  • cnmarine on 10/09/2018 - 17:39
    +1

    You split the whole bill………..if you looked at your electricity bill, it's the same thing, alot of the charges comes from service charges.

  • hawkeye on 10/09/2018 - 17:47
    +1

    and when you leave you turn the power off so there is no more billing to that address.
    Is he meant to ring the council and let them know he's no longer taking a dump at that residence so they can stop invoicing the service charge?

  • HighAndDry on 10/09/2018 - 17:48

    I’m a housemate in a house living with the owner.

    Just slight nit-pick: In this situation you're a renter/boarder renting a room from the owner. Housemates are generally multiple people all renting from another owner, and it gives more of an even footing connotation.

    • ThatKiwiFella on 10/09/2018 - 17:58

      Okay yeah, you’re right. I pay X amount per week, plus bills and get my own food. Would you think the $250 service charges should be included in the rent that I pay weekly?

      • HighAndDry on 10/09/2018 - 18:28
        +1

        There's really no "should" in this. It depends on what your rental agreement was. In a lot of normal rental cases, renter only pays usage on top of rent. But then the rent they pay already includes the service fee so they're basically paying for both anyway, and it's structured that way because service is fixed and can be included in rent, and usage depends on the renter.

  • spackbace on 10/09/2018 - 17:48
    +13

    Side note, haven't been using the oven every day have you?

    • ThatKiwiFella on 10/09/2018 - 18:11
      +2

      Only once a week, any more would be unfair on the owner

      • SydStrand on 10/09/2018 - 18:19
        +1

        Showering more than once a week would be unfair on the owner too.

    • Bushbasha on 11/09/2018 - 18:45

      @spackbace Haha i thought of this straight away as well

  • ThatKiwiFella on 10/09/2018 - 18:10

    Lots of contradicting answers so I’ll go in depth a little more

    As pointed out by one person, I’m more a boarder than a housemate.

    I pay X amount in rent, then split bills when they come in and pay for my own food.

    I don’t have a rental agreement either as this is only short term accomodation.

    He did mention that when he rented out this house when he wasn’t living in it, he had to pay the service charges and the tenants paid the usage. Now he lives in the house and rents me a room.

    We live in VIC, as I assume charges probably vary state to state

    • railspider on 10/09/2018 - 19:17
      +2

      General rule is tenant only pays usage - so you would split that amount with the owner. The owner can claim a tax deduction for the fixed (service) charge, and would pay it if the house was tenanted or not.

      In your situation, at the end of the day, it'll depend what your housemate/landlord and yourself both feel comfortable with.

    • Hardicus on 10/09/2018 - 19:22
      +1

      Yes it depends on state. In Qld the landlord cannot charge the service charges to you, I'm fairly sure even if it's in the lease (different rules for commercial leases though).

      Sorry I'm not sure of Vic rules but the local RTA or equivalent would be your first stop for info.

  • GangGang on 10/09/2018 - 20:20
    +1

    Why are people getting negged for telling op to only pay for usage? This is common with rental agreements. Renters don't pay service fee for water & sewage.

    Edit: op doesn't have rental agreement.

  • Jimmytshirt on 10/09/2018 - 20:22

    In Vic you can rent a room while living with the owner. As long as you have exclusive possession (ie the owner isn’t going in and changing your towels etc) then it’s likely VCAT will find you have a tenancy agreement. Used to be a question of is their a lock on the door - these days not so much.

    A boarder is more of a home stay type arrangement. Are you getting meals provided etc. Doesn’t sound like it.

    Sounds like you agreed to pay rent for a room. Paid bond etc and had an agreement of sorts re utilities (make sure the owner has lodged it with the RTBA). Smells like a tenancy to me.

    See here for more info: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/types-of-ren…

    The law is very simple re utilities. The landlord can only charge them if the room is separately metered (I’d wager it isn’t).

    See - http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/vic/cons…

    How to deal with that in practice is a more difficult discussion.

    The law is also simple regarding your agreement to pay utilities. Doesn’t matter if you agreed/contracted to utilities. If it’s inconsistent with the RTA that clause of the contract is invalid.

    See here - http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/vic/cons…

    Smart landlord should up the rent but say inclusive of bills.

  • Euphemistic on 10/09/2018 - 20:44

    What did the owner say?

    Yes, it’s normal that a tenant only pays usage, but you agreed to split the bills, so you may have agreed unknowingly to split the total.

    Assuming the owner wants you to split the total is an extra $125/qtr worth causing a drama about?

    • tryagain on 10/09/2018 - 21:36

      As others have said, you normally just pay the usage part, the fixed bill's like rates, building insurance etc are the owner's responsibility.

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