Tenant's rights

[Houses4Rent]

A few thoughts:

If water was billed it went through the meter which I assume is not faulty. So council is NOT responsible as their buck stops at the outlet of the water meter (consumer side).

What is municipal insurance? Interesting, never heard of it. It could be attempted to negotiate with the council as it was neither the tenants nor the ower fault (plead unaffordability). If they write of 50%, the tenant can pay 25% and the owner the rest 25%. Or something like that.

If burst pipe was reported immediately how come so much water could still escape? Was the first action not to switch (mains) off? Me thinks even an underground leak would show itself fairly quickly as the water should come up once the soil below is saturated.

If its a complex and common property then they are liable, but this does not sound to be the case.

Are the pipes above ground plastic (sun will destroy) or copper (thieves will take)?

If its a known problem and responsible party (developer?) is over the hills there is little recourse.

A smart owner which saw burst pipes left right and centre should have maybe fixed it BEFORE it bursts and therefore would have saved the water loss.

[Dave A]

What is municipal insurance? Interesting, never heard of it.

Based on the question, I guess the Ethekwini water loss insurance scheme is only a Durban thing. Reading that page, I note this though:

Under this scheme, only individually metered domestic water customers may insure themselves against part of the additional water charges as a result of an undetected underground leak on their property.

Given that Kirsten is in a complex, that may be a problem.

Given we're talking about Durban, I'm also guessing the municipal utility bill is going to the owner or the complex body corporate, and not the tenant.

I'd suggest the extra water usage is consequent of the fault, and the party responsible for the repair would also be liable for that consequent expense.

From a strictly contractual point of view, who is responsible will depend first on the rules as defined in the sectional title scheme or the share block scheme. If it falls within the individual section, then you would need to examine the rental agreement.

Mind you, even if it falls to the tenant in terms of the rental contract - if the owner was aware of a problem in the infrastructure (which it seems has been conceded already) and failed to disclose this to the prospective tenant prior to the signing of the contract, I'd lean pretty hard on Richard S's point above - doesn't the body corporate or the owner have a role to play here?

[Houses4Rent]

Based on the question, I guess the Ethekwini water loss insurance scheme is only a Durban thing.

"The nominal monthly premium, which is raised on the consolidated bill and forwarded to a private insurance company, covers part of the cost of additional water used as a result of the leak."
Looks like a third party inurance and council is only collecting the premium. Which leads to the question whether the owners/body corporates building insurance might have such water los cover on that policy already.

I'd suggest the extra water usage is consequent of the fault, and the party responsible for the repair would also be liable for that consequent expense.

That would imply that it had been repaired before and was still under warranty. Otherwise one cannot make the new plumber responsible for the old plumbers or original developers f-up.

[Dave A]

I'd suggest the extra water usage is consequent of the fault, and the party responsible for the repair would also be liable for that consequent expense.

That would imply that it had been repaired before and was still under warranty. Otherwise one cannot make the new plumber responsible for the old plumbers or original developers f-up.

I suggest we missed each other on the point -

My point is if the owner is responsible for the cost of repair, it is the owner that should also be responsible for the extra water bill as it is consequent to the damage being repaired.
Similarly if it is the tenant's responsibility, or the body corporate's, etc. ...