Hi Reginald

The NSW Dept of Fair Trading's position on Water Usage is:

Water usage

In some cases a tenant may be asked to pay to the landlord the water usage part of the bill. The ‘water usage’ charge which appears on the landlord's bill for the rented premises is for the total amount of water which flows through the water meter on the property.

A tenant may only be charged for water usage when they have agreed to pay for water usage under the additional terms of the tenancy agreement. If there is no additional term about ‘water usage’ (usually under clause 29 of the standard form of residential tenancy agreement), a tenant cannot be asked to pay any amount.

A tenant can only be charged for the metered amount of water which they use. For this reason it is important that the water meter be read and the figure noted on the premises condition report before the start of each tenancy. Otherwise there will be no way of dividing the first account between the tenant and the former occupant.

If there is no individual meter for the rented premises, as is the case with most blocks of units, a tenant cannot be charged for water usage. If the supply authority has a minimum amount payable for all properties the tenant does not have to pay for water.

A tenant is entitled to a photocopy of the water account and should pay any amount owing before the due date on the bill.

Cheers,  Paul

In most instances including units, each property is individually metered (older units or those that may have been under one owner originally may not have seperate services).

Cl 5  of the NSW Residential Tenancy Agreement indicates what the tenant agrees to pay by way of services ie 5.1 electricity, 5.2 gas, 5.3 excess water, 5.4 water usage (no minimum charge), 5.5 excess garbage, 5.6 septic pumpouts.