A change in regulations mean landlords whose properties are served by Welsh Water are required to let them know of changes in tenancy within 21 days - landlords could be liable for water and sewerage charges if they fail to update the water company.
Welsh Water estimates that in 15% of non-payment cases customers are no longer living at the property but remain registered for charges
Landlords of properties served by water companies in Wales risk falling foul of a rule change which means they need to keep their tenants’ details up-to-date with them – or face becoming liable for their charges.
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, which serves more than 1.4 million households and businesses across much of Wales, Herefordshire and parts of Deeside, has issued the warning as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the change, brought in by the Welsh Government.
The change affects a large number of people and organisations – the Welsh Government estimates that there are around 100,000 private landlords in Wales, as well as the 60+ Residential Social Landlords. Welsh Water estimates that all in all it serves over 350,000 rental properties.
Welsh Water wants landlords to register themselves and their properties with them and is urging them to take advantage of the water industry’s online system, Landlord TAP (www.landlordtap.com), to let them know of changes in tenancy details.
The not-for-profit company said work it had done on cases of ongoing non-payment revealed around 15% of these customers were no longer living at the property but remained registered for charges. The inaccuracies make it difficult to recover its charges - each year the equivalent of around £20 for every customer is spent pursuing customers who don’t pay their water and sewerage charges.
Julia Cherrett, Managing Director of Retail Services at Welsh Water, said:
“It is really important that we have accurate and up to date information about who is responsible for paying our charges. Some landlords may not be aware of this important change in regulations, which can lead to months of charges falling to them, rather than the tenant.
Unrecovered charges lead to a reduction in the amount of investment we are able to make as per our not-for-profit status. This is something we want to put right, we want to maximise our collections performance so we can invest more in supporting those who genuinely struggle to pay, and in improving our network.”
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