› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Levies and Unit Entitlements › Rogue developer out of control › Current Page
Yes Sir Humphrey and Lady Penelope , I agree that individual meters are much better for water in a Strata Scheme, for environmental and equity issues. However, this developer is one of a minority here on the coast who determined not to install individual meters but chose to just have one meter for the total scheme which was built in 2014/2015. The Strata Managers we have spoken to have been very surprised that he did not install individual meters.
Just to be clear :
Each apartment has two seperate water supplies. The first is for mains water which is used for everything other than toilet, cold washing machine tap and balcony tap. The second supply is from the tanks which is used for toilet, cold washing machine tap and balcony tap as required by the Development Approval ( DA). When the tanks are almost empty the tank water feed is replaced by mains supply until the tank level increases to an operating level.
The four current apartment owners are happy to pay for the installation of a meter on the mains supply to their apartment, and pay for the water they consume from this supply. The developer will still only receive one account from the water authority ( the Council). The common property of breezeways, lawns, water features and gardens etc. will not be metered separately.
The developer also wants each apartment owner to pay for a seperate meter on the tank supply. ( 2 meters in each apartment). We do not see the need to meter the tank supply as the usage of mains water in the tank supply system is seasonal . Mains water only cuts in when there is insufficient rainfall which in this part of the world is usually a couple of months in the summer period.
We would all, of course, pay the Lot Entitlement ( LE) amount for the balance of the water account after we have all paid the amount of our mains water usage.
So my questions are: Should we read the main meter ourselves and deposit what we think is our LE amount to contribute to the water account; and
What is your view of having two meters in each apartment, one to measure the mains water supply and the other to measure the tank and occasional mains supply combined?