Please help! Assessed water charges are so high!

mullberry_2

I moved into my small 1-bedroomed rented house (converted from an outhouse on another property) 9 months ago. I've just receive a stupidly high bill for 9 months usage for £330. That's nearly £400 for the year! For me living on my own this is such a stupid bill. My previous property i was at for a year (metered) I worked up a yearly bill of £200 - half that!

I could see from the bill it was neither rates nor metered but 'Assessed' so I rang Seven Trent Water up to find out what this meant as I was under the impression that this property was rates.

The operator I spoke to said that i was not on rates as rates would be over the value of £400 so they work the bill out on 'assessment' instead. When i said how was rates so expensive for a 1 bedroom property she said that rates were different from property to property based on some assessment made by another governing body when the property was converted and must have been done wrong 'but it can't be changed or corrected'.

Assessment values were used to calculate how much i may use in the year. Also a meter cannot be fitted on this property apparantly. :mad:

so where do i go with this now?! I can't have a meter installed, i can't have rates as they've been wrongly assessed, and the 'Assessed' values are by no way acceptable.

I'm living on my own in a one bed property and really can't afford this bill and feel trapped.

Cardew

I can only assume that you are paying the assessed charge for the whole house, not just your conversion.

This often happens when the 'conversion' is unofficial(no official planning permission) or the water charges have not been split.

The operator is not correct. There is no way that an assessed charge for a single person in a 1 bed property will be paying £400.

If you look at the Severn Trent assessed charges http://www.stwater.co.uk/server.php?show=nav.5630 it is made of 2 elements.

I suspect either inadvertently(or by deceipt?) your landlord is getting you to pay for the whole property, or both are paying the same.

I would take it up with your landlord in the first instance, and if ST won't budge, contact the Consumer Council for water.

mullberry_2

Hi and thanks so much for your advice. Well for one, not having correct planning permission sounds like my landlord completely.

I should also explain that what we live in, the converted outhouse, is on the property of another very large house (the main house) which is split up into a further 7 flats. So does that still mean a mistake or deceipt by my landlord? He doesn't actually live there.

But when you say we could be paying for the whole property inc flats it does sound right. Its as if the water company is seeing me as the stand alone big building that sits on this lot. Not just the converted shed that sits around the back.

It seems that according to this ww.stwater.co.uk/upload/pdf/Summary_of_Charges_09.pdf (the bit at the very end) they tend to base their bills on if the property is attached, semi detached etc. Which seems so unfair. I'm going to have to take some pictures of this 'shack' and send it to them in the hope they see this tiny property for what it is (a converted shed attached to a row of other sheds), and fingers crossed they can be fair about it.:think:

Headsabovewater

Severn Trent base there assesed charges on property type i.e:
Flat or Terraced @ £281.72 per year
Semi Detached @ £364.03 per year
Detached @ £451.27 per year
It does not as advised ( by a numptee ) differ from property to property.
From the £330 bill you have for 9 months i can see you are in band 2 Semi detached property.
Is that the correct type of property?

You state you live on your own.
As from 1st April 2009 Severn Trent Water have introduced a single occupier rate for thoes on Assessed water who live alone.
It will be in the region of about £100.00 less than you are being billed at the moment but you need to ask for it rather than it being offered.
Call STW and tell them you live alone and are billed on assessed water and you would like to apply for the single occupancy charge. :beer:

Gothicfairy

This is not an easy one to answer without seeing the details of your account but it might well be that you are paying for more then you rent as the owner might have failed to inform Severn Trent about any split.

Assessed is a charge that is based around a test amount of people who are on RV but yet still have a meter so that any water board can check the normal adc for the property type.

Ie one bedroom might have 2 tenants at most but a 4 bed house can have 4+

Then out of all those metered accounts the average is worked out for each property type.
Terrace and flats tend to be listed as the same and then semi detached and detached.

Any alterations made to properties does effect the bills as the RV of a property will be removed and if a meter can not be installed assessed is the only other option but it depends on the information supplied when the tariffs are set. The owner might have said that it was a barn conversion and is one property when in fact it is a bed sit.

First I would look at your tenancy agreement and see what the address is, Does it show "flat " or give any indication the size of your bit ?
Then look at your bill, What is the band for assessed ? AS01 02 or 03 ?

If it is 01 then that is for a terrace or flat but anything over that and you need to get your agreement off to Severn Trent

Then there is the single person tariff it is in the region of £200 per year but you would need to provide the documentation requested. Call them and ask for the form to fill in.

I hope that might have helped

mullberry_2

hi and thanks all for replying!

In response to HeadAboveWater I suppose you could call it semi detached. Its attached to the neighbours outhouses/sheds which is what this property used to be. I'm hoping that in appealing to STW and sending them pictures of this 'structure' that they'll readjust. I can see that they base their prices on detatched/semi detatched type of property but still seems unfair when you weigh up the size and quality of this place. I wouldn't even call it a house and its certainly alot smaller than a flat.

And in response to GothicFairy, i think they're listing it as As03 as on the bill it says 'measured drainage - band 03 - £57.57'. Unfortunatly, my tenancy agreement states nothing about type of property at all, and my partner is due to move in with me in the near future so there's no hope of having a single person tariff

Gothicfairy

As03 is detached

Quality is nothing really as far as STW is concerned..sorry but that is non of their concern .There is something you can do though..Get a site plan if possible and send it in or look on the VOA and see what they have your property listed as.

https://www.voa.gov.uk (I think) you want domestic and check the 2005 list for your value rate, it will show the type of property.
Also look on google and see what they have your property listed as.
A difference there should be enough for a tariff change or apply for a water meter and wait for the appointment.

Gothicfairy

One thing to add, Seeing as you have been there that long why not apply for a meter proper ?

You might be able to get one and that would save you a lot of money and problems

mullberry_2

i would love one believe me! Especially as i use so little water. but STW are saying that they are 'unable' to provide a meter. Im not sure of the exact reason why but 'unable' was the terminology used.

Headsabovewater

If the property is a maisonette it will come under the same charges as Flat or terraced property.
Also it depends on why there is no meter at the property what you can do.
Looking at your opinion of your landlord i think it is very likely you are on a joint supply as i dont think he will have paid to have a seperate supply fitted to the property.
So if on a joint supply a meter is not an option unless you can get him to fit a sub meter and bill you himself.
Best look at single occupancy on assesed charges and see if you can get the type of property as Flat or Terraced.

mullberry_2

Hi and thanks Heads!

Single occupency is a no-go any more as my partner will be moving in over the next couple of weeks. So i suppose my only real option is to write to STW and whine, beg and plead as much as possible and provide as much clear information as possible, even maybe including some pictures of the conversion.

Thanks ever so much all
xx