Property converted into 2 flats & we're paying the whole house rate!

dads_albums

Hello,

It's just come to my attention that my downstairs neighbour and ourselves have been paying too much for our water (the property was converted into 2 flats in 2006) when other 2 flat conversions in the same street are paying half of this. Northumbria water have basically just said to her, "well, you'll have to get a meter" but personally I don't see why we should.

All advice and guidance gratefully received!:)

macman

Conversion done on the cheap, the authority should have been advised and the supplies should have been metered when the property was split. They're using the original RV to bill you it seems.
Why would you not want a meter if it's going to halve your bill? It's free.
NB: if, as I suspect, the supplies were not separated anyway at the time of conversion, then it may not be possible to fit a meter. If so, you can ask for assessed billing. But you can only do that if you first ask for a meter and the survey shows that it can't be fitted..

dads_albums

You're telling me it was done on the cheap (but that is another long and tedious story).

I know that water meters can save you money but that isn't always the case, and also what about the £1.5k extra we've shelled out in the meantime?

Cardew

When converted(if after April 1990) it was mandatory that the flats should have had a meter fitted.

The other flats in the street were presumably converted before 1990, and hence each allocated a new Rateable Value(RV)

or the original house had a lower RV than yours.

or they are on a meter.

Since 1990 there is absolutely no way a revised RV could be awarded - prior to that date the RV was assessed by the council(not the water company) as method of collecting 'local taxes'; it was superceded by the 'Poll Tax' and now the Council Tax.

The mistake is by the developer who didn't get meters fitted to both flats.

macman

As above, the water utility have done nothing wrong, so you can't expect them to compensate you. You could make a civil claim against the developer, id they're still trading 7 years on, but with no guarantee of success.
How can a meter be more expensive if you are paying twice as much under RV billing? You can anyway revert in the first 12m if it is. The problem here is that the only RV amount is the existing one, as Cardew explained. It can't be revalued now, 23 years on. Assessed billing is your best prospect if you don't want a meter or it can't be fitted.

dads_albums

Oh well, it was worth a shot! Thanks for the help

dads_albums

I also strongly suspect that the water supply wasn't separated when the conversion was done. Sorting this out should be "fun"....the developers should have been wearing stetsons...

Cardew

mrsdickie wrote: »

I also strongly suspect that the water supply wasn't separated when the conversion was done. Sorting this out should be "fun"....the developers should have been wearing stetsons...

There have been several cases on MSE of conversions where just the one flat paid for water and the the other flat(s) in the building paid nothing.

Obvious this is not 'legal' but it happens and the water company 'computer' has no idea that the house has been converted.

macman

mrsdickie wrote: »

Oh well, it was worth a shot! Thanks for the help

So what are you going to do?

mrschaucer

There's something not quite right here. Are you saying the water company are billing you on the RV of the original whole property and DOING THE SAME for the downstairs people? So they are getting two identical RV payments for (in their eyes) one property? Surely the "water computer" would have flagged this up? Mind you, on second thoughts ...

Cardew

mrschaucer wrote: »

There's something not quite right here. Are you saying the water company are billing you on the RV of the original whole property and DOING THE SAME for the downstairs people? So they are getting two identical RV payments for (in their eyes) one property? Surely the "water computer" would have flagged this up? Mind you, on second thoughts ...

Why would the computer flag it up?

If the computer is 'given' a different address(the second flat - e.g flat 2a) with an RV of £xxx, it punches out bills on that basis.