No really gend up on this. Can a person who is paying more water rates (than the same house across the road with two bedrooms) be able to get a rateable value assesment on their property?
friend is pay Can I appeal if I think my rateable value is too high?
No!
Surely this cant be the case when a house the same cubic size and 2 bedrooms.
Thanks.
I think the only thing you can do is ask the water company to install a meter. It may be the place opposite has a meter...
If friend doesn't use hosepipes, he'll probably be better off installing a water meter, especially if friend lives alone and likes showers.
Christian.
The water charges are based on the rateable value. You don't have a case to appeal against the water company, what you need to do is appeal against the rateable value with the Local Authority.
Ian Cornish"
Meter is not an option here, sorry should have stated this. And no meter is installed across the road.
You may recall that when they abolished the rates, they were considered completely unfair, with loads of anomalies. Now add the fact that no changes or appeals have been allowed since 1990, and they're not going to have got any fairer.
As far as the water companies are concerned, if you want a fair system, then you should ask for a meter. That, de facto, is the appeal procedure.
Christian.
Why is meter not an option?
Christian.
There are two parallel systems in force for charging water rates - metered and unmetered.
Metered depends purely on how much you use - and is often the best bet unless you are a heavy user. The OP seems to think that having a meter is not an option in the case cited. WHY?
Unnetered depends on the Rateable Value of the property. RV is what used to be used for assessing Rates before the days of Council Tax and its related Bands. RV is used *solely* for unmetered water rates these days - and new properties are not given an RV. You would have to dig through the archives to find out why two similar properties in the same road were given different RVs - and I very much doubt whether there's any way of appealing so long after the event.
Simple, landlord won't permit it. :-)
Then there's bugger all you can do!
Christian.
If it's the tenant who pays the utility bills it's hard to see how the landlord can object to the tenant being able to minimise the cost of those utilities.
Tenancy agreements are subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act; not allowing someone to have a utility meter is probably unfair.
Owain
I know of a tenant who laid a new water pipe to his rented house and paid for it connecting up to to improve his water flow. The landlord was not asked by the water company or the tenant for permission. He just ticked the box on the form that said he was a tenant.
Adam
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