Tenant Requested to Register with Irish Water but Not Doing So - Who is Liable?

keo

Hi

I have called Irish Water about this matter and not received a conclusive answer. We are non-resident landlords, our tenant is hopefully moving out very soon as we started eviction proceedings due to non-payment of rent. The tenant has been in the property since 2010, we were not aware of any obligation to inform Irish water of his tenancy. We have never lived in Ireland so it is a steep learning curve managing a property in the State.

Earlier in 2017 we contacted Irish Water to inform them there is a tenant in the property and that they have been there since 2010 and lived there throughout the liability period. We were told that the tenant had never registered of own accord and was still not liable unless they registered an account themselves, and liability would fall on the landlord for any outstanding bills. This contradicts what we have read else where in the legislation and the agent we spoke to wasn't able to provide legal basis for this rationale.

Please note that we have asked the tenant to register but he has not done so. Given the fact that they are in breach of their rental agreement with thousands of euros of outstanding rent, this is hardly surprising.

Can someone please confirm that by contacting Irish Water to inform them of the tenant relieves us of our obligation. Or what else we may need to do to remove liability?


Thanks
Keo

Irish Water: Louise

Hi Keo,

Thank you for your message.

As the landlord of a domestic property, you are obliged to contact Irish Water within 20 working days of an agreement start date and provide the name(s) of your tenant(s) and the start date of the agreement you have with your tenants e.g. rental agreement.

For more information regarding Landlord and Tenants, please visit our website.

We hope you find the above information helpful. Please feel free to contact us should you

Kind regards,
Louise

keo

Hi Louise 
I'm very familiar with the FAQs you point me towards but they don't answer my question. As stated in my op we did not contact Irish water within 20 days as we were not aware of this  but did so subsequently  with details of the tenant. Can you please clarify what the position is? I have already been passed from pillar to post on your phone line and it is charged as an international call! 

Kind regards
Keo

Irish Water: Louise

Hi Keo,

We can certainly look into this for you if you could PM us the following details:

- Name
- Address
- Contact Number
- Confirm that you are the account holder

We apologise for any confusion. Once these details are confirmed, we will endeavour to clarify the situation for you.

Kind regards,
Louise