Older property can't have a water meter

ventriloquist

Headsabovewater wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]I do apologise I certainly didn't mean to stand on your ego.
I was merely pointing out that OFWAT would rather a customer exhaust all avenues of the complaints procedure with the relevant water company before they get involved.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/faq/generalfaqs/prs_faq_complaintshelp
Please not the line that states
"[/FONT][FONT=&quot]If you have a complaint about your water company you must speak or write to them in the first instance" I draw your attention to the "must " in the last sentence.

I am in no way suggesting that [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Flourish should not pursue things further, Just that the customer should follow the guidelines laid out by OFWAT.
Lets face it "You cannot have a water meter as your stoptap is in the wrong place " is a very vague description of the problem.
It might be that the stop tap is behind a fitted kitchen and it would involve drilling a hole in a new kitchen unit to fit the meter which the meter fitter has no right to do without the express permission from a landlord if the property is rented.
[FONT=&quot]It might seem a waste of time but there is a structured complaints [/FONT][FONT=&quot]procedure between water companies, The Consumer Council For Water and OFWAT.[/FONT][/FONT]

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OK let me explain to you about the confusion that people always have about CCW and Ofwat.

CCW and Ofwat are two different organisations. Ofwat is the economic regulator of the water industry and approves the policies in the water industry. CCW is a day to day services regulator of the water industry and enforces policies approved by Ofwat. However, any decision made by CCW will NOT be reviewed by Ofwat at all, vice versa. They do not have any statutory power to do so.

The water companies do have complaints procedure, I agree with you. CCW will enforce this. However, in certain cases, Ofwat will look into them straightaway - for example meter refusal, repeated sewer flooding, compensation under Guaranteed Standards Scheme Regulations etc.

As I mentioned earlier, meter refusal does fall under Ofwat jurisdiction and CCW will not have intervene at all. This confirms my reiteration before that the complainants have the right to appeal to Ofwat direct.

If you still have doubt, you can check with CCW at 0121 345 1000 or contact Ofwat direct at 0121 625 1373.

Please note the Water Industry Act 1991 gives the permission to the tenant to fit in a meter, although the landlord does not permit so, provided the tenant has a tenancy agreement which states that the tenancy period will be six months and above. The statutory rights under the 1991 Act overrides any contractual terms and conditions set out by the landlord. Nevertheless, it is always a best practice to get an agreement with all parties before proceeding with any actions.

Hope this helps

deanos

jaxkesa wrote: »

Is there a list of the assesed charge rates anywhere? I just had a water meter survey done and they said they couldn't fit it as it would be behind where the fridge goes so they wouldn't be able to read it

I'm single tenant in a 1 bed flat and don't use much water so hoping to cut my £420 bill!

Thats not an excuse not to fit a meter, we have hundreds behind fridges and washing machines, they just put an "outreader" on so it can be read from outside.

jaxkesa

deanos wrote: »

Thats not an excuse not to fit a meter, we have hundreds behind fridges and washing machines, they just put an "outreader" on so it can be read from outside.

Interesting...they said they wouldn't be allowed to move the fridge out. Altho I moved it out very easily when they did the survey. :cool:

deanos

Meter reader wont move items thats correct , ask them if they use outreaders if they do then you should be able to have one as the plumber only has to get behind the fridge once to fit the meter then it can be read from outside.

ventriloquist

I agree with Deanos - sometimes the water companies dont want people to change to meter just to overcharge them again and again

playallday

I have recently discovered that my flat was wrongly banded and my local council have re-banded it in keeping with the upstairs flat, and refunded me with the overpayment of council taxes.
I am with SWW, and our charges are the most expensive in the country.
As water rates are levied on the rateable value of a property, and mine was incorrectly valued, am I entitled to a refund for the years I was overcharged for my water supply?

BTW I now have an assessed charge as they can't fit a meter. I am away for 3 months of the year but I was advised, unlike Flourish, that to turn off my water whilst I was away, and turn it back on again, would cost in excess of £1000!!

Cardew

playallday wrote: »

I have recently discovered that my flat was wrongly banded and my local council have re-banded it in keeping with the upstairs flat, and refunded me with the overpayment of council taxes.
I am with SWW, and our charges are the most expensive in the country.
As water rates are levied on the rateable value of a property, and mine was incorrectly valued, am I entitled to a refund for the years I was overcharged for my water supply?

BTW I now have an assessed charge as they can't fit a meter. I am away for 3 months of the year but I was advised, unlike Flourish, that to turn off my water whilst I was away, and turn it back on again, would cost in excess of £1000!!

No!
Rateable Value(RV) is nothing to do with Council Tax bands.

The RV was based on the notional rent the property could fetch not its sale value.

It is possible(in extreme cases) for a band H mansion to have a lower RV than a Band C semi

Plenty have people have tried and failed to get their RV changed, and the ofwat site has something about this.

jaxkesa

I received a letter today saying they are putting me on an assessed charge of £238 for a 1 bedroom flat. They are dating it from the date of my survey 10 days ago.

I'm going to phone them and see if they will date it from the date of my original survey in December. And then if they won't do that then I will ask them to fit a water meter, since they said they would back in December! They can't have it both ways

I also received a bill for £974.82 a few days ago! I wonder if this is related as it seems ridiculously high.