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Seperate Water Meters
In sectional title schemes where; separate individual water meters exist, but where these individual meters are not recognised or approved by the local authority concerned i.e. the body corporate continues to be billed for the total water consumption and remains responsible for the resultant charges on the scheme’s single bulk meter, with the individual meters having to be read independently and the relevant charges raised internally and recovered separately from each owner.
Does the body corporate have the right to automatically and in the absence of a suitable Management Rule, which specifically isolates and alters the owners financial obligations in terms of water consumption, to recover amounts contrary to a PQ based recovery?
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RE: Seperate Water Meters
Charles,
Why would this need approval from a local authority? If that be the case the Local Authority will charge each individual owner.
(This is currently done with electricity)...Show More
Surely it makes sense to charge each owner for their consumption and the individual meter would determine that consumption / usage.
Equally, I think if PQ's were used a "suitable" management rule will very quickly be included to reverse this and go for individual meters.
RE: Seperate Water Meters
If you have individual meters, it makes sense to charge each unit for its actual use. You don't need a management rule to do this - I think it would be covered byv Section 38 (i) of the Act. It's the same principle as for telephone calls. If your complex has a PABX, calls from each unit are logged and charged individually (otherwise one resident is paying for others' calls).
You would still get a component of water costs in the levies: to cover body corporate use and line losses.
RE: RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi Ahmed - These individual meters are not recognised by the local authority although they exist. Perhaps their type and make does not meet with the requirements or standards of the local authority. As a result the local authority does not raise the water usage costs as per the consumption on each separate meter and direct to the individual owners. It bills the body corporate on the single meter for all the scheme's water consumption. The individual meters are then read independently in order for amounts raised on the scheme's main meter to be redistributed and recovered from owners as per the internal calculations of usage. My original question was - in the absence of a suitable management rule to allow for this particular expense / cost to be treated differently i.e. not on a PQ recovery basis, should a management rule allowing for this not be required? This particular scheme operates on prescribed management rules and the obligation to pay for the current water usage remains that of the body corporate and is an included item / provision in the annual budget.
Hi Anne – I agree with you that since the meters exist, it makes sense to use them but I am of the opinion that in order to do so a management rule is needed to allow for this expense to be dealt with differently as it is the body corporate’s obligation at the moment to pay amounts raised on the single meter (one account). This is a fairly new development and I believe that the developer should have made provision for this when he installed separate meters that the local authority was not prepared to bill individually / directly on. Of course if the meters were of a suitable standard whereby owners were billed directly then no management rule would be required as the water expense (barring the common property supply) would not be an issue or form a significant part of the annual budget.
RE: Seperate Water Meters
There is no doubt that these water charges can only be recovered on a PQ basis. To now change a Mangement Rule will be well nigh impossible as it would also be necessary to get the consent of all owners whose proprietary rights are affected. There are many expenses where it can be argued that some owners get more benefit than others. Recently a high rise scheme I was involved in had to upgrade the lifts and those owners on the ground floor wanted to opt out of the special levy. t simply cannot be done exzcept if you spend money to instal meters which the Council will be willing to bill separately.
Peter Corbett
RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi all,
We manage several schemes that have sub-meters for both electricity and water. The account to the B/C is then divided up between owners based on their meter readings. This is obviously the fairest method of distributing the costs....Show More
Now that it has been brought to the attention of all, perhaps we are wrong, and that it is 'contrary to the Act' to do it this way. Perhaps it should still be based on PQ.
This could be a long and interesting discussion. Perhaps the Prof could help us here with his comments.
Mike
RE: RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi Mike - We have three schemes under our management that have these "sub meters" (thanks for the term). Two of them have them with their water consumption and the third one is electricity consumption related. All three schemes operate off prescribed management rules. I am of the opinion that the fact that these sub meters exist does not by natural progression or deduction mean they can or must be used. I don’t believe their mere existence is sufficient enough “authority” to deal with the financial recovery of these expenses in a manner contrary to a PQ based recovery.
As I have said above, the body corporate remains responsible for the financial obligations of these expenses and in the absence of any specific rule, which alters the financial obligations of its members, surely one has to basically ignore the existence of the sub meters until such time as suitable resolution has been taken and an appropriate rule provision is in place?...Show More
The scheme referred to above, that has the electricity sub meters, is a brand new development and the local authority naturally requested a sizeable deposit from the BC, which was paid by the developer and recovered from the new members based on their PQ’s (the developers doing).
I don’t know what the requirements are by a local authority in order for them to recognise these individual meters and I guess these requirements would differ from region to region. I would also guess that the location of the installation of these individual meters is also a consideration by a local authority in terms of accessibility for meter reading and emergency switch off purposes. One of the schemes referred to above has their main water meter located just outside the boundary fence at the main entrance but the actual individual meters are situated outside the front door of each of the 35 units.
This topic begs further discussion when one considers PMR 33 - (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subrules (1) and (2), the trustees shall, if so required in writing by a majority of owners, procure the installation and maintenance in good working order, at the body corporate\\\'s cost, of separate meters to record the consumption of electricity, water and gas in respect of each individual section and the common property. (4) If and for so long as no separate meters have been installed in terms of sub-rule (3) the contribution payable by each owner in respect of electricity, water and gas shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of rule 31.
The assumption I make in PMR 33 is that once the separate meters are installed you successfully remove what has become a serious financial headache / obligation to a body corporate by effectively passing the expense direct to the owners. What would happen if the trustees in terms of PMR 33 (3) went ahead and had individual meters installed that did not meet the requirements of their local authority and they were now in a similar position to the examples used above?
RE: Seperate Water Meters
It would appear, my previous reply nothwithstanding, that owners would be required to pay according to what is metered.
Peter
RE: RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi everyone - we went the route of individual Municipal meters as part of major plumbing repairs in 2004.
The municipality reads the bulk meter and then the individual meters, debiting the individual units for their consumption and the difference being debited to the Body Corp. We're charged a management fee of R 7.00 per setion and amended our Management Rules so that this is ecoverd from the owners n coinjunction withn the levies.
All it may need - is to get the municipality to install their own meters??
Hope this helps!
Regards...Show More
Peter
RE: RE: RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi everybody - PMR 33 (3) and (4) spell out very clearly the answer to the discussions above. To add to the debate though, the instalation of separate water meters and the charging of water consumed as per the reading of these meters, ensures that those who are water "guzzlers" pay for their "guzzling" and are not subsidised by those who are termed water "misers". Consider, for example, some blocks of flats where overcrowding is the norm. Another plus is that monitoring for water leaks is possible. In my experience, a local authority (Ethekwini) is a lot more expensive as their requirements before their water meters are to be installed require an all or nothing approach as well as their insistance on replacing galvanised piping with copper piping as oposed to polycop or other piping.
Regards
Steve
RE: RE: RE: RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi Steve - I don't think that PMR 33 (3) & (4) does specifically deal with the issue of "sub meters" or separate meters that a local authority is unwilling to recognise. I agree with you that yes guzzlers should pay for their guzzling etc but I think that part of the unmentioned intention of PMR 33 (3) is to actually effectively remove the expense obligation from the body corporate with the installation of separate water meters that would allow for direct billing i.e. the BC is no longer responsible - except for the common property consumption. I think there is an assumption in PMR 33 (3) that any separate meters installed would have to do just that but clearly not all individual installations allow for this (individual & direct billing) and as per the examples above, the body corporate continues to remain responsible for the financial obligations of the consumption in total - this the same BC that recovers its expenditure from its members on a PQ basis. Does the provisions of Section 32 (4) not have to be considered and a special rule created to allow for this? I am not anti using these unrecognised or sub meters but I remain of the opinion that their mere existence is not sufficient enough reason or cause for a BC to isolate this expense and make recoveries contrary to its conventional PQ recovery in the absence of a rule specifically allowing for the deviation.
RE: Seperate Water Meters
In my opinion the provisions of PMR 33 (4) make it clear that if there are separate water meters for each section and the common property the body corporate is entitled and obliged to recover from the owner of each section the cost of the metered supply to in that section.
When there are no separate meters, the body corporate must collect the cost of water from all owners in accordance with PQs or any special rule made under section 32(4) of the Act - this is the effect of the cross reference in PMR 33(4) to PMR 31. ...Show More
But PMR 33(4) says that this situation only applies "if and for so long as no separate meters have been installed".
The inescapable conclusion is that where there are separate meters the body corporate must recover the cost on the basis of measured supply.
In my view the provisions of section 38(i) of the Act do not automatically apply in this case because this provision presupposes an agreement between the body corporate and each owner for the supply of water. That type of arrangement is possible, but in practice I think it unlikely that each owner would enter into an agreement with the body corporate for this purpose. And it is probably not advisable in any event because of the additional administrative burden of ensuring that each new owner enters into a contract with the body corporate for the supply of water. There may also be complications in the light of the constitutional entitlement to the basic supply of 6kl/month/household.
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RE: RE: Seperate Water Meters
Hi Graham - thanks so much for your posting and direction on the topic.
RE: Seperate Water Meters
A local Municipality will not recognise the existance of individual meters in a complex unless they and their associated piping have been laid under the supervision of Metro Water.
Unless this has been done the reading of these individual meters is the responsibility of the Body Corporate, each Unit being charged for the actual amount it uses. Any difference between the total from individual meters and that from the external bulk meter must be shared amongst all those within the complex.
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