Landlords advised they should leave water bills to tenants

Landlords are being advised by the Auckland Property Investors Association to stop paying water bills to Metrowater and leave tenants to foot the bill.

The action follows a long-running dispute between the association and the Auckland City Council-owned water company over who should pay water bills - landlords or tenants?

Association president Andrew King said water was no different to electricity, gas and telephone accounts paid by tenants.

The only difference was Metrowater refused to deal with tenants and insisted on issuing accounts in the landlord's name.

Mr King yesterday advised members to notify tenants of the action, arrange a day for the changeover to occur, take a water reading and advise Metrowater with the tenant's name and contact details.

Association members accounted for about 7000 of Metrowater's 50,000 rental properties, he said.

Mr King said the Metrowater policy meant that the landlord received an account, paid it and then invoiced and received payment from the tenant, a complex, expensive and time-wasting system for landlord and tenant alike.

Tenants could also be financially disadvantaged by Metrowater's 10 per cent prompt payment discount, he said.

Metrowater spokeswoman Lisa Finucane said the company understood landlord's frustration but it was happy to send water bills directly to tenants for payment, to qualify for the prompt payment discount and manage their water use.

"Contractually, Metrowater has relationships with landlords. If landlords want tenants to pay the bill and the bill to be sent to the tenant's address that is fine but for non-payment we will still be following up [with] the landlord, not the tenant."

She said Metrowater dealt with landlords because it minimised the exposure to risk of tenants doing a runner and kept costs down.

A ruling by Auckland District Court Judge Graham Hubble in 2003 meant that landlords could charge tenants for water and wastewater services. Previously, landlords could charge tenants for water but the Tenancy Tribunal prevented them charging for wastewater.

The court ruling affects tenants in Auckland City, where the council set up Metrowater as a user-pays system for water and wastewater. Other councils combine water and wastewater charges through their rates.

Mr King said the association had its own legal advice stating that tenants had a clear duty to pay for water so long as their dwelling had a separate meter, water was charged on a metered basis and the tenancy agreement stated that water costs were the responsibility of the tenant.

The legal advice also stated that under the Residential Tenancies Act, the landlord could not interfere with the supply of water but there was no obligation for the landlord to supply water.

Lisa Finucane said the Department of Building and Housing explicitly stated that "landlords are responsible for ensuring there is an adequate supply of water to their rental properties".

Angela Maynard, of the Tenants' Protection Association, said the issue would be discussed at a meeting this weekend.