water bill/unmetered/empty property/rateable value

marc3

Similar-but different question/thoughts to other recent thread in unmetered property -hence new thread .
any thoughts/guidance/experience of following situation
am landlord of property .
 
property currently empty /no water usage and is between tenants  .

as in past-we simply have notified the water company .
property is unmetered (they cant fit one )

for last 22 years of ownership we have done same-notified water co between tenants -and no charge .

this time-we have had whacking bill (and no usage)
water company are throwing at us-if unmetered its based on rateable value.

that is true -but i regard that in instances of where property is occupied and water is being used .
not when its empty .

i continually ask why the 'change'-exactly same situation as last 22 years-and never been charged before where no usage/empty .
getting no where and its 'stalemate'.

i have paid the the standing charge (albeit never asked to previously .)and have no issue with that,but i am refusing to pay for a service not being  used-and maintain the rateable value thing applies to an occupied property-not when its completely  empty/no usage .

loggerheads .
again-no different a situation to last 22 years-and this rateable value thing is not a new thing-

anybody had similar experience/thoughts/ guidance ?

am i being unreasonable ?

many thanks 

Exodi

I suspect the water board will maintain that as there is no water meter they can't prove either way. Just like a gym or Netflix, they have provided a service (in this case access to 'unlimited' water), whether you used that service or not is irrelevant.

I am an unmetered/assessed charge customer and I don't receive a refund if I go on holiday (I wish) and again, they'd have no way of knowing if I did or not. Unfortunately as you probably know, we can't have nice things in life because there are plenty of people who would heavily abuse such an exception.

Hell, I don't even get a discount during the hosepipe ban that's been running for the last 3 months! At least metered customers pay less for their reduced usage. We're told to use less, but pay the same!

*ahem* went off on a bit of a tangent there.

Personally I think you have it the wrong way round - I think repeatedly pointing out that you haven't paid for water during void periods for the last 22 years is an... interesting... tactic and risky (though in reality, I doubt they'll bother pursuing historic issues like that).

Not even paying standing charges (until just now) is pretty incredulous, I'm amazed they allowed that to happen. I suspect you don't do the same with the gas/electric, despite the principle being the same.

matelodave

The answer is in your hands - get a water meter fitted and then you only pay the standing charge for the convenience of having water available when you want it when a new tenant moves in.

Much the same with gas and leccy, the service is available to you on demand as you pay for what is being used. The alternative being to have it disconnected and reconnected between tenants.

My metered water bill would be well over twice what I pay if I was still on RV and we water the garden, wash the cars and caravan as well.