Massive water bill - should tenants pay?

dav964

Hello,

My daughter and six of her friends are students living in rented accommodation. Last year they had problems with leaking taps in the kitchen and despite reporting this to the letting agent and emailing the landlord nothing as done about it.

They have now received a water bill for £950 - the large part of which is down to the leaking taps.

What are their options? Do they have to pay or do they have some cause for grievance given that they have reported the problem on several occasions to the letting agents, the landlord and the water authority? The water authority are now chasing with threatening letters...

princeofpounds

They will have to pay the water bill. However, they may have a claim against the landlord. Do they have evidence that they complained at the time?

G_M

Did they report the problem in writing to the landlord at the address provided "for the serving of notices"?

I find it hard to believe a dripping tap can make such a huge difference to a bill.

How long between the drip starting and the bill?
What was the previous bill?
Might (one of them!) have been using more water elsewhere?

Why did they not spend 7p on a new washer and fix the drip? That would have cost them 1p each.

martinsurrey

£2 a meter cubed for water + sewerage

Say 2 taps drip every second and each drip is 0.1ml (this is a fairly large drop as well).

That’s 17 litres a day (86,400 X 2 X 0.1 / 1000)

Over a year thats 6,200 litres or 6.2 meters cubed, or £12.

A normal shower is about 8 litres per minute; say they each have 15 min showers every day and there are 7 of them (that’s a long shower, but my other half manages!) that’s 840 litres a day (8 X 15 X 7) or over a year 306,600 litres of water, or 306 meters cubed or £600. Add into this 7 people using the washing machine and 7 people’s toilet flushes and extra for baths and you will soon get up to £900 if you’re not careful

I would say that a drip isn’t going to be the real problem (unless it looks like its fully turned on all the time!

Better_Days

How long a period is the water bill for?

If it is for a year that's about £136 each which I don't think is too bad for water and sewerage for 12 months.

Do they use a hosepipe in the garden in the summer?

Ulfar

Why didn't they replace the washers themselves, its an easy fix and something I would expect to have to do like replacing light bulbs.

It must have been some leak to run up £950.00, hold on just re-read your post for 7 people £950.00 is cheap. Divvy the bill up and pay.

I pay £40.00 a month on a water meter for comparison and its just me.

Dan-Dan

Maybe they liked washing , a lot , unusual for students but....:D

andy.m_2

dav964 wrote: »

Hello,
the large part of which is down to the leaking taps.
...

Sorry but you are clutching at straws, they need to pay the bill.

olly300

The people telling you that it's your daughter and her co-tenants responsibility are correct.

You can call Shelter up but you will be told that one of the tenants responsibilities is to change tap washers.

Only if the leak was due to the pipework would it be the landlords responsibility. However if the pipework was leaking there would be more damage than just a high water bill.

So your daughter and her pals have to pay the water bill in full.

dimbo61

Did the property have a water meter or water rates ?
Now I agree that £950 bill for water for 7 students is not that bad for 10/12 months usage.
If they did report the leak in writing to the Landlord and he/she did nothing about it then LOOK for a better LL next time.
Many universties now have accommodation offices and accredited Landlords with code of conduct

ognum

I also don't think this is too much money, seven students, showering, bathing, washing etc. You mentioned a daughter, are they all girls?

It actually works out at £135 each so around £10 per month per student. Not bad really!