Water Metered or Unmetered and who's responsible!!?????

[blutopaz]

Hey all

This is may be a bit long but .....

The shop I am in the process of letting has just told me that I am responsible for having a water meter fitted and that (according to the water company) it can not be unmetered as its standard practise now for it to be metered.

Being a hair and beauty salon there will loads of water used at the basins...is it completely absurd to have a metered water supply, how much of a bill am I kinda looking at for a quarter (I realise areas differ but
any guess is better then non ) as I need to see if its viable at all, as I have budgeted so much per year for the water

And should it be my responsibilty to have to have this installed or seeing as the landlord needs a water supply for the kitchen and toilet he's fitting , is it his?? (to clarify the kitchen and toilet are for my property)

Thanks guys

 

[champagne]

I would think that the owner of the property would be the one responsible .... have you spoken to him/her yet?

 

[blutopaz]

Not since this developement. wanted to get peoples opinions as to whether my logic was right that it should be him.

Basically he's dividing his own shop up and renting out the newly created second shop to me. So he already has a metered supply, which we'd broached a month or so ago but then electricians quotes took over, now their sorted im back to my water dilemma.

I received an email today via his secretary saying that they'v asked their water company and that I will have to fit it myself and that can only get metered as its standard these days.

So i have 2 dilemmas now,

a) the cost of being metered which i have no idea how much it would costs, at least with it being unmetered it was against the rateable value.

b) who fits it, i would have thought he would have to fit it as you cant flush a loo without water! fair enough if it was a gas meter but its pretty much a necessaity to it being of workable condition and rentable quality!!

 

[del3]

I don't know about the legality of the issuse but, to me, it makes sence that because the premesis belongs to him, he is making money by charging you a rent and it is him that wants to change the layout of his building, that he would be responsible for the re piping and fitting of a new meter ensuring that both busineses have an independent meter and supply.
You shouldn't be responsible for the water used in his bathroom etc.

Sounds like another landlord that wants his cake and eat it to me.
I would proceed witth caution :hug:

 

[blutopaz]

I don't know about the legality of the issuse but, to me, it makes sence that because the premesis belongs to him, he is making money by charging you a rent and it is him that wants to change the layout of his building, that he would be responsible for the re piping and fitting of a new meter ensuring that both busineses have an independent meter and supply.
You shouldn't be responsible for the water used in his bathroom etc.

Sounds like another landlord that wants his cake and eat it to me.
I would proceed witth caution :hug:

I may not have been clear enough about the bathroom etc. I meant the one he is installing into the property i will rent. The fact that it is a function that needs plumbing surely means he should be dealing with the water supply as a whole. He maybe meaning that he will plumb it in but i have the meter installed, either way i personally feel everything including the meter is his responsibility but just wanted to get the general concensus

I think iv just about made sense of the water boards charges for metered water and looks to be about 10p per hair wash if iv got my facts right. good thing is i do alot of dry cuts so hopefully the bill shouldnt be to astronomical

thanks guys for responding

 

[Bev Rose]

Hi,

I don't know if I can help, but my husband is a manager for our local water board , and is very clued up on rules & regs etc, however, it is the 'waste water side' as opposed to water coming in to the property, it's water going 'out' of the property - I'm guessing - I'll get him to read this thread when he gets in later & I'll post his reation word for word.
xxxxxx

 

[blutopaz]

Thanks Bev! you've completely baffled me already but the help is much appreciated lol, if he wouldnt mind helping me understand the facts at the very lease it would be a great help if he needs the full picture pm me and il try and respond as soon as i can

thanks again guys

 

[Bev Rose]

Ok, so he's scanned through it and says he cannot help with water regs. He just deals with the brown stuff!!!!!!
Sorry, thought it may be worth a look.
xxxxx

 

[del3]

I may not have been clear enough about the bathroom etc. I meant the one he is installing into the property i will rent. The fact that it is a function that needs plumbing surely means he should be dealing with the water supply as a whole. He maybe meaning that he will plumb it in but i have the meter installed, either way i personally feel everything including the meter is his responsibility but just wanted to get the general concensus

I think iv just about made sense of the water boards charges for metered water and looks to be about 10p per hair wash if iv got my facts right. good thing is i do alot of dry cuts so hopefully the bill shouldnt be to astronomical

thanks guys for responding

Ok, I still feel that the costs of permenant improvments/ammendments to the property should be the landlords concern,after all he will need that seperate meter inplace if you left and someone else took over the lease, BUT bear in mind he has the right to reflect the money he will have spent on this in your rent...he is there to make money like us all :lol:
:hug:

 

[joe90]

OK, so I am going through the same thing at the moment. The shop I am renting has been registered as a domestic address for some years although it has been a salon (albeit beauty) for the last 15.

so we need to get a water meter fitted. Our local water board (and it maybe different throughout the country) have said that it is up to them to get the meter fitted with no cost to us.

In terms of costs and again it may vary from county to county but I was told that they charge per cubic metre of water, and that equates to about 1,000 litres of water. the charge they make is £2.35 per cubic metre. We would obviously use a lot less than a hair salon but maybe you can work out an approximate cost per week from this.

Hope this makes sense and hope it helps.

 

[tog]

The water authority fitted the meter in my salon at no charge.

My salon is just beauty so the bills are very low, probably about £120 per year. There are 2-3 therapists there 5 days a week.

:idea: But why don't you post on the Hair Geek forum and ask how much the water bills are for their salons? it would give you a more accurate idea so you can work out your costings.

 

[lilacm]

It is standard practice to have a water meter now and they are becoming compulsory anyway soon i think for businesses. It depends on the lease as to who has to pay for it to be installed although when we had ours put in last year it was not very expensive.

We don't do hair so won't use as much as you might although we are a very busy salon with 11 people and our bill is only about £300-£400 a year which is much less than we paid before we got the meter installed.

I think if there is no plumbing in anyway yet the meter should be installed as part of the fit-out anyway as legally it wouldn't pass health & safety without running water any any new connections to the mains i think need to have meters put in straight away now (this might just be in Scotland though!)