Why would you trust a post which actually spells the word …dot….in the e-mail address……sounds like one of those nice glossy student accomadation deals somewhere in darwin.
I spoke to my PM and Yarra Vally water today and found out the following
1. Yarra Vally said I was liable to pay both service charges and usage as there is only one meter. They will not split the bill or arrange usage payments for the tenants.
2. The PM did some ringing around to fellow PM for some advice (I was surprised this is not more common considering there are a number of similar unit blokes in and around my area which is Ringwood). He came back to me with that under the Tenancy Act the Landlord is liable to pay both service charge and usage just like the water authority told me. The PM told me that other landlord usually add between $5-10 p/w (about$130 per qu. bill) extra rent to cover this in the short term (till seperate meters).
So, I guess it is solved now, I have added an extra $10 per week, not ideal as the advertised price is a little higher then most in my area but it will be highlighted on the add that all water bill is included.
I will raise the issue of seperate meters at the next GM of BC and might request a quote so I will keep your offer in mind.
Thanks for your help, I know it seems a small issue but it was interesting and I'm surprised not much is said about it.
Thanks so much for your advice. I'm going to call the water authority tomorrow (Yarra Vally), I'm also in Melbourne. Unfortunately when I spoke to my future PM (Have signed up but no tenants for a month or so) he did not really make sense and mentioned something about the Body Corp can split the bill, but like you said I don't think this is legal. I will double check with the PM and might ask my BC for advice.
My PPOR is also in a block of 4 units and we also share one meter (those blasted developers from 30 years ago!!!!), the situation is the same were we get a bill already divided by 4, the BC here had a quote for separate meters a few years ago but it was close to about $5000-$6000 I think, yours seem quite cheap. I think mine is expensive because it would required much labour in digging and concrete work.
Was the works difficult on your units e.g (much digging or under concrete)?
Yeah thats what I had suspected and been told, so if this is the case how have landlords dealt with it in the past?
1. Do increase the rent (I thought this might scare some people off seeing a much higher advertised rent) 2. Forward the bill to tenant of Agent (But if they fail to pay its your name on the bill?)
I recently installed two split systems into my unit, I brought the unit from Harvey Norman then pain a professional Air Con installer to install them, it can work out cheaper buying the unit yourself from a shop then paying someone to install, I found this with all the quotes I got.
I think an important point which has not been raised is the matter of insurance. If a new air con is not installed by a licenced gas/sparky it can void your insurance policy as there is no certificate of compliance. You need to obtain one of these from a licenced installer (vic) otherwise if the unit causes any damage to your IP (water leaks, faults, serges) it might not be covered by your policy.
Not worth worry about for the sake of an extra 500-1000K.
You can but good units (eg, panasonic, mitsubishi, etc) for about 600-1200K and these are about 3-6 KW easy cooling and heating a standard house or small unit.
There is no need to be so rude and vocal, I was simply stating the experiences I have had this such properties. Good for you if you have had a pleasant experience, thats really nice, but thats the point of the forum for everyone to state their view so how about some respect.
The housing your probably talking about is located in NSW and QLD where there is a heavy defense presence. I'm talking about ones in and around Melbourne Victoria were there little defense areas or bases. Many of the defence houses around here are on a single block, often with only one in the street. I have 3 at the moment which I have severed Notices on to clean up the property and one for noise issues. (point cook area)
Just because your in the army, does not make you the best tenant in the world, have you seen the videos on you tube?
I work in local government (by-laws) and have had some very bad experiances with DHA housing, most DHA houses are not looked after, treated poorly and DHA housinf officers are very hard to contact and get action for the tenents to clean up or stop causing a nuisance to neighbours. If your fussy about the up-keep and running of the property I would be a little put off!