Can I find out the ratable value of other tenants propertys in a block of flats?

pinkladyvenus

My mum lives in a block of flats designed for the elderly they are all a similar size with near enough the same layout. None of the flats have water meters. My mums pays £40 a month for her water her neighbour and some of the other tenants pays £21 a month. Is there a way of finding out the ratable value of the other flats? As when my mum has questioned the difference in charges the water company just suggests she has a meter fitted. My mum is adamant that she wont have one fitted.

Cardew

The rateable value(RV) ceased to be used in April 1990 for anything but water charges for unmetered properties.


I doubt any councils have kept records of RV - many people have tried(and failed) to obtain the RV for their own property, to confirm if the water company were using the correct RV.


Also even if they have the records they are unlikely to give you details of other properties; ditto the water company.


To confirm if your mother's RV is higher than other flats, look at her bill and note the RV and get her to look at other occupant's bills to see their RV.

Robin9

Are you comparing like for like with your Mum's £41 and her neighbours £20 ? If your Mum's is for water and sewage it sounds about right; is her neighbours just for water ?

pinkladyvenus

Mums neighbour is for water and sewerage as are the other people who are only paying the £21. I am hopeing to compare her RV with her neighbours but my mum is reluctant to ask them for this information. I thought that as it is one complex of flats surely all the water bills should be the same.

Cardew

pinkladyvenus wrote: »

Mums neighbour is for water and sewerage as are the other people who are only paying the £21. I am hopeing to compare her RV with her neighbours but my mum is reluctant to ask them for this information. I thought that as it is one complex of flats surely all the water bills should be the same.

There wouldn't normally be much, if any, variation of RV in similar size flats in the same block.


Are you sure your mother hasn't defaulted on payment and the £41 is paying back the debt?


If you can look at the bill, any such situation will be apparent.


With her RV, on the Severn Trent website you can work out to a penny her annual cost.

Robin9

There is a potential flip side to this - that your mums is correct and her neighbour's is wrong.

lincroft1710

Even if your mother's RV is incorrect it cannot be changed. The water authority are probably the only body who kept their copy of the old 1973 Valuation List (the book which has the RVs in it).

Is there a possibility the water authority have misidentified her flat and are charging her on the wrong RV?

john1

Not looking good to have it changed see here however you may be assessed see here if a meter cannot be installed

matelodave

Are you sure that the other bills are based on Rateable Value or are they either metered on assessed charges.


If she wont ask them what their RV is then how do you know that she is comparing like with like.

pinkladyvenus

Thank you to everyone who offered advice. I have now sorted this out, my mums water rates have been lowered and she is now paying an assessed charge as it is not possible for her to have a meter fitted where she lives. Which also explains why some of her neighbours bills were lower.