Real-life MMD: Water worry - should we split the bill equally?

milvusvestal

A month is a long time to be absent and, based upon the period the bill covers, you should definitely pay only that proportion which relates to your period of occupation, ie if the account is for a 6-month period, then you should pay proportionately for the 5 months you were there to use the supply.

The same formula will, of course, apply to the other tenants when they are away for any length of time, but this should have been sorted out before you went away, and certainly should have been agreed upon when the multiletting began.

However, do verify that no particular occupant is using more than his/her fair share of water. There is no need whatever to shower or bathe every day and, if some of your fellow occupants are doing just that, then they need to bear the brunt of the bill.

sismith42

Huge water bill + 2/6 people away for a month (presumably a sig amount of time for the bill).

Nevermind the money, I'd be looking for a leak!

PrinceGaz

milvusvestal wrote: »

A month is a long time to be absent and, based upon the period the bill covers, you should definitely pay only that proportion which relates to your period of occupation, ie if the account is for a 6-month period, then you should pay proportionately for the 5 months you were there to use the supply.

The same formula will, of course, apply to the other tenants when they are away for any length of time, but this should have been sorted out before you went away, and certainly should have been agreed upon when the multiletting began.

However, do verify that no particular occupant is using more than his/her fair share of water. There is no need whatever to shower or bathe every day and, if some of your fellow occupants are doing just that, then they need to bear the brunt of the bill.

You clearly haven't house-shared.

When you share a house, you normally share the bills equally, unless it is agreed in advance or it becomes clear that someone is using far more electricity / gas / water (where a water-meter is fitted) than anyone else, though proving they are using more is likely to be difficult and more trouble than it is worth. By "far more", I don't just mean up to 50% or so more, but instead double, triple or higher.

You also share other things, like the kitchen and the fridge in it, the bathroom and toilet-rolls etc as well as keeping shared areas clean. If you upset the house by requesting a meeting to negotiate how much should be paid for this and that because you believe you should pay less for something, or the agreements should be changed based on how much you personally use: you shouldn't be sharing a house; you should pay a good bit more and get a flat of your own as you are clearly unsuited to sharing a house with other people.

You are part of a community when you share a house, and the most important part of doing so is being happy living with the other people in other rooms for the benefit of all of you there. Doing anything to turn others against you, such as retrospectively suggesting they pay more for bills whilst you were away on holiday, is not going to go down well, especially if they spent time away but didn't convene a meeting afterwards to get money from you.

When you share a house, you are generally expected to share everything in it and pay for it equally. It is impractical to set quotas on how much someone can shower or flush the toilet, or record washing-machine usage... or how much of the fridge is filled with their food. Five people in a house? Unless there is a very good reason otherwise, they each pay 20% of the bills.

MadSu

I'd also check there wasn't a leak if it was an exceptionally large water bill, and if there is a meter, check that the reading was correct. I found out 3 years after moving into a new build house that what the water board was reading as my meter, was in fact my next door neighbours' !!! (5 person household instead of 2:eek:), we only found out when next door turned off their water to put new plumbing in and our water went off instead :mad:)

No leak, no incorrect reading... then pay up. Those house share mates of yours have been looking after your belongings etc. for a month free of charge, lol, just as you will for them when they go away. If you start asking for rebates, it'll spill over into all aspects of the house sharing, things could get very nasty, very quickly.... I've seen fisticuffs over spoonfuls of coffee:rotfl:

Ebenezer_Screwj

Why do you not have an arrangement in place regarding all the bills and allowing for holidays ? In the absence of that you have no choice but to pay up, but I suggest you check out the bill with the water company first in case there is an error.

lordra

Water supply is a little different from other utilities. With internet, its fixed. With G&E, it varies on usage, but the house is still being heated, minus one or two radiators in your room.
With water, there'a supply, drainage, usage and water standing charge! Have you seen your bill?

I'd go with everyone else and pay it. Its probably not a big amount and when you split between a couple, its cheaper. And water is the CHEAPEST BILL I get every time, so I'd be quite happy to pay it (if I was in your situation).

Just to be fair to everyone else. Reading this thread let me look at things from various different perspectives and its quite interesting how people perceive things! Please let us know what you do! And reply!

laupsek

Of course you should pay! The whole point about sharing a house is that all the bills are split equally irrespective of whether you are there or not - you cannot pick and choose. If I go on holiday for a month my mortgage provider doesn't suddenly stop billing me for the time I'm not there.

alggomas

Does everyone do this when they have been on holiday?
If so then you have to pay.
Using words like "large bill" and "away for for weeks", cuts no ice with me, swings and roundabouts.

tallgirld

I think you should still pay. The problem with not paying for the 4 weeks is that in future everyone will do the same. If they are off for 1 week, 2 weeks or even a weekend!

It will get very complicated and cause bad feeling. This reminds me of when I lived at home trying to get out of paying house keeping when I was on holiday :-)

JayD

You made an agreement - and I assume that it didn't have any clauses about reducing shares of bills according to personal usage - so honour your agreement, pay it and stop fussing over details.