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Rentals and Water Rates

By Eva Judge

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 12Dec2010 Word count: 414 Viewed: 164 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

If you have bought a property as a rental investment, there are a few things you need to consider. Things such as how much rent to charge, how much maintenance needs doing before the premises is rented. The other thing is whether or not to charge for water. If you've bought it as a rental investment then you are expecting to have a reasonable income from the property. So, in terms of making money from your investment, its best to charge for excess water usage. You don't want to end up with a huge water bill because of irresponsible tenants. Investing in rental property can be a great way to have a regular source of income but if you don't charge your tenants for water, then it can also turn out to be a bad choice.

The best example is the New South Wales Housing Department which charges tenants for water usage in accordance with the 1987 residential tenancies act. The tenants of the housing department pay an actual water charge or a percentage water charge. This is dependant on whether the water meter is an individual or shared meter and also is dependant on whether the water authority has provided housing with sufficient usage information. Since October, 2009, the department has charged a percentage based on the rent a tenant pays. The rate is around 4.3% of the rent payable. It can be an incentive for tenants to preserve water as much as possible and encourage them not to waste water. Water is certainly a precious commodity these days. A real estate agent can help you to decide what sort of charges should be put into place. Using a real estate agent to handle the rental premises for you can save you a lot of stress and hassle.

Having a property management team to handle all your rental premises is a great idea. It leaves you time to do other more important things. Property management teams can do background checks and also check up on references. They can check with other real estate firms to make sure the tenant they put in your property is going to look after the place and will pay the rent on time. They can handle the bond lodgement, collect the rent and make sure the place is properly maintained through regular inspections of the rental property. They generally have maintenance professionals that they use on a regular basis, so you know your property is in good hands.

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