– $130K not enough to rid of ‘dangerous’ dump with million-dollar views<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s the extra rip-off … but the primary rip-off is do people paying 530% more than other people use that much more water? It has stopped being a user-pays system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodey said most of his properties were boarding houses, so he was actually better off, but he was concerned for those who were unfairly impacted.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of my investment properties are large-scale multiple units or boarding houses, so I\u2019m not the one getting smashed on this. But it\u2019s people like my mum who are.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Tiaki Wai spokesperson said plans to move away from RV-based calculations would begin next year and address the disparity, but the decision to use water meters was awaiting board sign-off. Homeowners could be waiting up to seven years for a meter.<\/p>\n
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Wellington property coach and investor Steve Goodey says the water charges are a \u201crip-off\u201d. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The authority said measures were in place to help those struggling to pay their bills. <\/p>\n
It had no legal authority to force the sale of any property for any unpaid water bill so noone would be kicked out because of it, the spokesperson said. The most it could do it the case of non payments would be to get a debt collector involved. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s water will be turned off because they have not paid their bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harcourts Team Realty owner Marty Ritchie said Porirua City Council\u2019s new water bills only arrived last week, so it was too early to tell the impact on the property market just yet, but he didn\u2019t think it would be good news.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at mine today, and my rates bill went back fractionally. But on average my water bills were $2300, and that\u2019s for 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ritchie said the lack of water meters not only impacted homeowners with single or small households, who might use less water, but also would sting investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden, it\u2019s going to make quite a difference, and unless you as a landlord have a meter on there, you cannot on-charge the tenants for any usage because there\u2019s no way of measuring it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new water bill was just another cost landlords were grappling with, he said, warning it could result in some selling up.<\/p>\n
\u201cRents have come back but costs to landlords have gone up. If there\u2019s no incentive, then people will decide that they don\u2019t want to be in the landlord game anymore and they\u2019ll get out of housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said retirees who were not sitting on large nest eggs could also be at risk because while it appeared his rates had come back a bit, he did not believe they would cancel each other out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be some extra costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wellington Ratepayers\u2019 Alliance spokesperson James Ross said the real issue was that rates bills had not fallen in line with councils\u2019 previous water costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now that water is being billed separately, ratepayers are facing costs much higher than the 5.8% increase would suggest.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is affected, but particularly those on fixed incomes. The number of people needing assistance with their rates bills is up 150% over just the last two years. And with water bills set to triple over the next decade, that\u2019s only going to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a lot of people were angry because the separate water bills made it clear how much people were paying for \u201csub-par services\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tommy\u2019s agent Jason Lange said the current water charging system could be viewed as \u201cunfair\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got a retired lady in a million-dollar home using 10 litres of water a day, and then there’s a student flat next door with 10 residents in it using 200 litres of water, and they\u2019re paying the same effectively. So that could be seen as a bit of a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt\u2019s too early to say I think whether it\u2019s going to have an impact on the market or not. I mean, if you want to live in Wellington, then you\u2019ve got to pay the rates and the water rates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said while higher rates and water bills may not necessarily drive prices down, it could prolong the weakness in the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the Wellington property market has been under pressure for three years or so with the weaker economy, public sector jobs and spending cuts, which have negatively impacted activity, employment and population growth. We\u2019ve seen people choose to leave Wellington for opportunities elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you add a layer of additional spending cuts on top of that, it certainly does make it difficult for the market to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n
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