Plumbing/electrical advice wanted

So we are renting a house that has 2 shops attached.

When we moved in the deal was that one of the shops has a small hand basin. It was arranged we would pay half of the water rates bill, and that the shops would be on our hot water cylinder.

Well now we have found out from one of the shops that they have had installed (by the landlord) another sink, and a kitchen sink for dishes.

Does anyone know if these costs would work out about equal?



Edited by kellie

We lived in a rental property where there was a flat below the house we rented, which was rented separately by a single guy. We were on the same water, and the landlord somehow split it so we each paid something.

He basically took the water bill and divided it by the number of people living in the whole property (four), then charged us each for the number of people we had in our separate flats (three in ours, one in the guy's). But we were paying a FORTUNE in water -- like, hundreds of dollars a MONTH. It turned out the guy downstairs, who was a carpet layer, was washing his huge work van twice a week using the outside hose. Still makes my blood boil thinking about all that water he wasted that we ended up paying for.

I would ask the landlord if separate meters can be installed for the water usage as this has the potential to turn very bad for you, the tenants who are spending the most time on the premises but not necessarily using the most water.

Extra sinks can only mean extra water usage. Ask your landlord how are they going to measure water usage fairly especially if the shops are going to use more water now. Check with the tenancy tribunal or citizens advice bureau as to what your rights are re: water payments on shared water meters. Good luck hope you get a better deal

Thanks guys. Yea I might ring up the TT or CAB.
I went around there once and saw that they didn't even have any plugs, so would just be running the water constantly to wash dishes etc.