Water Charges / Tax / Demonstrations / Irish Water / Meter Installations etc etc

dev100

biscuithead wrote:

I rented an apartment from 2014 to 2016.

Was it in your contract ?

biscuithead

dev100 wrote: »

Was it in your contract ?

No. There was nothing about water charges in the lease/contract. And besides what do bills have to do with a letting agency. Bills are a contract between tenant and service provider. Can a letting agent withhold money from your bond because you didn't pay your phone bill or put a stop on the direct debit for your internet connection?

Bob24

rawn wrote: »

But aren't the ones that paid being refunded?

This it what has been announced, but the details of how the refunds will work haven't been given by the government yet.

If I was the landlord I would withhold the amount as well though, as really as the occupier the poster here is the one who should have dealt with the payments/refunds and it should not be the landlord's responsibility. So they are right to cover themselves as if the poster does nothing the debt will be attached to the property and eventually it will become the landlord's problem to fix.

What could be done is to register with IW and pay what is owed to them. Show this to the agent, and they will have no basis to withhold money from the deposit. And whenever the refund mechanism becomes clear, claim that refund.

Bob24

biscuithead wrote: »

And besides what do bills have to do with a letting agency. Bills are a contract between tenant and service provider. Can a letting agent withhold money from your bond because you didn't pay your phone bill or put a stop on the direct debit for your internet connection?

Water bills are a special case. The legislation clearly states that if bills aren't paid, they become tight to the property forever until cleared. So unpaid water bills will come back to bite your landlord at some stage (if they don't pay now, they will have to do it whenever they want to sell the property and the other party's solicitor finds out).

guile4582

Hi all,
Looking for best course of action here, what do people think I should do.
I have never paid an IW bill and moved into the property I am vacating in June 2016 (bills were suspended in March 2016)

Recieved this from my estate agent when handed in my 4 weeks notice:

Please note that you will also have to contact Irish Water to close your account and settle the balance in advance of leaving. You will need to send verification of this being done to our office before we can request your deposit refund.

Will Irish Water make me pay for the bills pre 03/2016 to close account? or can estate agent dock it from my deposit?

or

will I do nothing and hope for the best!!

Baby01032012

I would contact IW and advise when you moved in and ask them how you should proceed explaining that you need proof for your landlord that no bills are owing, now that you are leaving the apartment. ALternatively advice agent that you moved in after IW bills were suspended, no bills were issued during your tenure and therefore no amounts are owing and see what they say.

guile4582

Baby01032012 wrote: »

I would contact IW and advise when you moved in and ask them how you should proceed explaining that you need proof for your landlord that no bills are owing, now that you are leaving the apartment. ALternatively advice agent that you moved in after IW bills were suspended, no bills were issued during your tenure and therefore no amounts are owing and see what they say.

are we still liable for bills pre March 2016?

athtrasna

Merged into appropriate thread.

Mod

The_Conductor

guile4582 wrote: »

are we still liable for bills pre March 2016?

Yes.
Will it even be collected- if you offer to pay- probably not.
Whats the worst that can happen- if the legislation is not amended or repealed (and it hasn't been thus far)- the debt can be associated with the property until such time as the landlord pays it.

Its been stated that water charges are to be refunded- less the water conservation grant- however, it seems significant numbers of people claimed the water conservation grant- but never paid their water bills- so you have a mess- where there are a significant cohort of people out there who could potentially be quids up- despite never having paid any water bills. The Department haven't worked out the details (yet).

guile4582

The_Conductor wrote: »

Yes.
Will it even be collected- if you offer to pay- probably not.
Whats the worst that can happen- if the legislation is not amended or repealed (and it hasn't been thus far)- the debt can be associated with the property until such time as the landlord pays it.

Its been stated that water charges are to be refunded- less the water conservation grant- however, it seems significant numbers of people claimed the water conservation grant- but never paid their water bills- so you have a mess- where there are a significant cohort of people out there who could potentially be quids up- despite never having paid any water bills. The Department haven't worked out the details (yet).

so if I close the account on the current property I am renting the balance should be zero? I think thats all the estate agents want.

IW will then want a forwarding address I presume

you're right its such a mess

The_Conductor

guile4582 wrote: »

so if I close the account on the current property I am renting the balance should be zero? I think thats all the estate agents want.

IW will then want a forwarding address I presume

you're right its such a mess

Nope- you have an outstanding balance- if its unmetered- probably of 260-280 Euro (depends of course on how many occupants are/were present).

This balance will still sit on the account and be associated with you in the first instance- and with the property itself, thereafter.

There has been no mechanism agreed or legislated for- to deal with outstanding balances, amounts paid, the water conservation grant etc etc etc

There are proposals- on how to deal with this- one of which is to wipe any outstanding balances and refund any payments- however, as it stands- these are still proposals, and are not legislated for.

In time- the balances probably will be wiped- however, its not provided for at present.

If you walk away from the property- without paying the water charge- there may be a debt registered against the property itself. If you do pay the water charge- you probably will have it refunded in time- however, when, whether the refund is a full refund or not- etc etc- has all to be decided.

Best course of action- try to pay the bill- and if/when there is a refund process setup- try to reclaim it at that point.

I'm not sure exactly how much I paid in water rates when I was a tenant for about 11 months straight during two calendar years, but a refund cheque arrived that is about 3 times whatever it was that I paid.

Is this happening anybody else? I'd rather see my money go into building a proper, healthy modern state-owned water system free from being exploited by some private corporation and didn't want the refund but getting much more than I gave is inexplicable.

Bob24

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not sure exactly how much I paid in water rates when I was a tenant for about 11 months straight during two calendar years, but a refund cheque arrived that is about 3 times whatever it was that I paid.

Is this happening anybody else? I'd rather see my money go into building a proper, healthy modern state-owned water system free from being exploited by some private corporation and didn't want the refund but getting much more than I gave is inexplicable.

If I remembers the rates correctly, for 11 months you should have gotten around 150 if you’re a single occupier or somewhere between 200-250 if there are multiple occupiers.

Initially I would have said maybe they also gave you a refund for whoever paid at that property before or after you. But if you say it’s three times it is not possible as water charges were not in place long enough to build up that amount. So they probably made some mistake in the calculations and/or matched you with the wrong payments.

If you are a model citizen you can call Irish Water to inquire. But realistically I think most people woud keep the money and enjoy Christmas a bit more with it.