The previous tenants (a family with two adults and one toddler) shifted out of our rental property in the beginning of the year. WaterCare were informed that a family of four adults and two children were shifting in and we asked them to adjust the water usage for the estimated bills accordingly because we didn't want the new tenants to get a big shock if WaterCare were only estimating the water usage on the previous tenants. Each month, WaterCare only sent out bills for around $90.... the same as they did for the previous tenants and each month, we'd again ask them to increase the estimated usage.
Then, in August when WaterCare have done an actual reading, the tenants get a waterbill for over $900 because they were averaging over $300 per month even though they had only been billed for around $90 each month. They panic their estimated daily water usage in June was only 116L average per day but, because WaterCare had finally read the meter, they said their average water usage in July was 3,690L per day. So, a plumber comes out and confirms there's no leaks, WaterCare confirm there's no problem with the meter and we do a few pressure tests confirming there's no leak. In the meantime, we're paid the full amount and are expecting the property manager to get the rest back from them. The property manager (who we fired before this but had to wait two months to be rid of them) does nothing. For the tenants, English is a second language who don't understand that there's a difference between an estimated reading and an actual one. Eventually, the property manager gets of their butt and tries to recover the money.
WaterCare are again asked to revise the estimated usage upwards and we're told they would. They lied. The September account arrives for less than $55.
The new property manager, before she's even taken over the property, goes to see them and explains the difference and arranges for them to pay it back installments. Then, a week before they were to hand the property over, the old property manager, even though they had been informed of the arrangement, sends the tenant notification that they need to pay the outstanding amount in full. Why? So, they can charge a fee for recovering the money.
Again, they are informed not to do anything but they then send the tenant an email, one day before our management agreement with them was too end, saying they are taking the tenants to the Tenancy Tribunal. The new property manager then informs the old one that they would be sued if they tried to recover money while no longer managing the property. The old one backs down... except they sent us a bill for their time trying to recover the debt. We wished them good luck with that and invited them to take us to the Disputes Tribunal and also reminded them how they had sent us an email claiming to be a record of an email changing our management agreement with them. The problem was, although the email had our names on it, it was sent to someone else.
Then, yesterday, the tenants get another huge shock.... WaterCare have done an actual reading of the meter again and their latest bill, which we'll have to pay and then recover the money from the tenants is for nearly $700 for the last two months.
