New Water Meters

[asalcedo]

I am renting the lower ground flat in my house.

I would like to install a water meter so that the tenant pays fo actual water consumed.

I know where the cold and hot water pipes that go into the flat are They are inside the property.

Can I purchase two water meters and install them myself?

This way by adding the two readings I would know the water consumed an could bill the tenant based on the bill for the whole house.

Ideally I would like the tenant to be billed directly, but since th water meters are inside the property, and dependent on the first mai meter I doubt the water company would do that.

Thanks,

Antonin

-- asalcedo

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Really!

Thats normally the case.

Yes that's where you would connect the meter.

Problem : if there are two water meters one for each flat and the bill does not reach the the full amount who's going to pay the extra? get the water board to fit them free of charge, problem solved.

I personally wouldn't like my landlord issuing a bill for the water, don't mind the water board though.

Let the water board install the meters and that way there is no quarrels and to be honest you would still need to inform the water board about installing meters in a house with flats.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[EricP]

Small inline 1/2 inch meter under £40 from the Toolstation, simple to fit.

Install it and just divide the bill up.

[manatbandq]

You can get water meters that are mounted internally but read externally. I don't know the maximum distance between the meter and the reading point.

It sounds to me like the flat is not really an independent dwelling (you say *hot* water pipes go into it). The water board may be less willing to install two meters for you in this case.

MBQ

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Heh! the meter's are connected to and as near to the main inlet regardless of the hot water pipes which has really naff all to do with it.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Christian McArdle]

You might need to check the law. There was recently a law passed that prevents you selling energy on whilst adding a markup. I don't know if this would apply to your supply of hot water (being part water bill and part energy bill), or if there are similar laws for water use. Something to look into. You would probably have to charge cost price and recoup any additional costs (i.e. boiler maintenance etc.) from the rental price.

Christian.

[Bob Eager]

You're not understanding the problem.

Water comes into the property, via an existing meter (if any). Some of it gets heated, and two pipes (hot and cold) go to the tenant's flat. The OP wants to meter *these* pipes, add their readings together, and charge him for the water used. Straightforward enough.

[Cicero]

=============== You suggest that there is already a meter outside for the whole building. Why don't you fit a meter to the take-off in *your* flat and deduct the amount you use from the gross usage? The remainder will be the amount used by your tenant. I assume that there are just two flats (upper and lower) and that the tenant will trust this way of measurement.

Cic.

[Andy Dingley]

On the whole, I trust my landlord more than I trust the waterbastards.

[Ed Sirett]

There is no reason why you shouldn't add your own water meters. These are available from the BES catalogue. You can use them to keep a check on the consumption and also monitor the water suppliers meter.

If you wish to charge the tenant for water then (INAL) I believe that this arrangement must be part of the tenancy agreement. I also believe that you may only charge a 'reasonable' amount for resold water. If you were (say) to charge three+ times the suppliers rate then your tenant could refuse on the grounds of this being an unfair contract.

Frankly in my own experience as a landlord: It is simply easier to say the rent includes water you can them claim the cost of supplying the water against the rental income for taxation purposes. You set the rent (perhaps for the next tenant?) to comfortably include the water charges.

Billing the tenant (even for the right amount) for water used has a 'Rigsby' feel to it and may be perceived as such.

[asalcedo]

proceed.

As mentioned above, my situation is that the flat I am renting is par of the whole house, it is actually where the house keeper used t live.

I don't need that space and it has been easy to rent it out because i fully independent from the rest of the property (different front door separate bathroom, kitchen, etc)

At the moment I am renting it with all utilities included. I do have separate electricity meter for that flat but no water meter.

My small shock the other day was that the water bill was way above wha was expected considering the number of people in the house (plus flat).

I am pretty confident that charging utilities at cost is going to b found acceptable by any future tenant.

And yes, after looking at all the complicated plumbing and pipes in th garage, where the mains and boilers are, I can identify the two pipe that feed the cold and hot water for the flat.

Now that I know that a meter can be purchased and easily installed an that it is done for different purposes I will go ahead and do that.

Regards,

Antoni

-- asalcedo

[manatbandq]

It has everything to do with it.

The fact that both hot and cold pipes go into the flat strongly suggests that it does not have an independent water supply. If the flat did have an independent supply then it would normally have it's own hot water system.

The water company will happily provide a meter for the supply to the property but I doubt they will be interested in whatever arrangement the OP has made for supplying water to the flat.

MBQ

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

asalcedo wrote: [snip]

Wouldn't it be better to just put the rent up to £5 a week more, I'm quite sure this would work out more than the tenant paying for the water?

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite