Apartment Leak - Electricity Bill

Lfmac on 21/07/2022 - 14:05
Last edited 21/07/2022 - 14:15

Hey guys

Just looking for some advice.

During the heavy rainfall the last few week my apartment in Epping had some leaks. To be more specific water got in under my wall (I’m on 2nd floor) and about 1/3 of my room carpet got wet.

When I notified building manager and real estate agent they didn’t do anything for the first few days and then randomly a carpet guy came and left this big and loud dryer/blower for me to leave on except when I’m sleeping

I left it on for a week, then when it all dried up more rain came so I had to leave it on for a few more days. Then the guy came and took it back saying he had to give it to another tenant.

Now when I got my electricity bill today, the usage was about 750kWh for the month, and checking with my previous 6 month bills I use about 330kWh per month. If I compare it to this time last year I used 430kWh for that month.

I didn’t do anything different the last month other than leaving on the blower/dryer and a heater/dehumidifier next to the leak.

Would I be able to get some sort of compensation or help for this months bill from the landlord? The actual amount was $100 over my past average bills.

Spoke to RE already, they said “electricity rates went up, nothing much we can do” so at this stage I'm just stuck with paying the bill by myself, but if this extra cost was incurred due to an issue with the property itself, is it for the tenant to pay? I was under the impression that the landlord would cover the difference, but I don't know who to talk to or where I can get information so I can go back to my RE and tell them they should be doing more.

TLDR: apartment leaked, carpet got wet. Building manager gave my blower/dryer to leave on for a bit over a week, electricity bill is $100 over my usual amount. Can I get this difference covered by landlord. Real estate has said they can't help at this stage.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • AndyC1 on 21/07/2022 - 14:19
    +4

    They should have got a carpet cleaning machine in to suck the water up and then the carpet will dry allot quicker than just using a heater.

    Next time it happens go to Jaycar and get a power meter like the one below and let them know that they will have to pay for the electricity used and if not then they (REA/bulding manager) will need to find another way to power the heater.
    https://www.jaycar.com.au/mains-power-meter-with-extendable-…

    As for who pays start with the following page and start reading/searching:
    https://nsw.strata.community/information/nsw-fair-trading/

    • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 14:23

      thanks i'll have a look

      • Franc-T on 21/07/2022 - 21:51
        +1

        Compare your usage compared to same time last year - presuming you are in the property for that long. You are in spausnet's distro area so you can get it from them or via your retailer (only if you lived in the premises) you can also graph your daily usage so you can show the increase the day you installed it.

        These heaters use a shitload of electricity but only for a few days wont add up to that much.

        With that you can work out the difference. Chasing up real estate then becomes the problem.

        If you need help with what to do with the data, message me.

        • fmac on 22/07/2022 - 07:06
          +1

          Thanks for that, I've sent them my past invoices - I've been here for 3 years now - but they seemed to have dismissed it, I guess I'll have to do some excel work and show it to them. If that doesn't work then I'll go for further action. Cheers

        • lgacb08 on 23/07/2022 - 10:40

          Mate, it was not just a few day, probably 10 days bbased on his description. Being industrial heating fan I probably guess it chewed through 2kwh every hour. That's 30kwh per day assuming he ran it except when sleeping. So that probably explained the 300kwh difference.
          It's worth presenting that maths to the agent and the landlord to get some money back.

    • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 14:23
      +8

      think you missed the point mate. get off your high horse and try to read and think before posting

        • Xistn on 21/07/2022 - 15:00
          +1

          So you are ok to pay out of pocket, for something that is not your problem?

          you now owe me $7 for my time.

        • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 15:00
          +3

          Well you might be disgusted but it appears the majority - and those who have experienced something like this were able to get it covered one way or another. So thanks for your input anyway.

          In regards to the heater - in a situation where water is creeping in, your carpet is wet, it's already under your bed, bookshelf and under the floor where my electronics like PC and modem are - I'm not going to sit around and watch. RE and BM didn't act for 3-4 days.

          The heater was on for 2 days tops, 3-4 hours each day. The blower/dryer was on from 8am when I left for work till 7-8pm every day for over a week. You think the heater caused my $100 spike in electricity bill? I doubt it. I've been using the dehumidifier for the last few months so that's minimal cost to the bill.

          I'm most certain that it was PROBABLY the dryer/blower that used the majority of the energy.

          And yes of course it was there to make the place habitable for me. No idea if you rent or own or whatever but it's up to the LL to make the place habitable, not me. As a tenant I should be taking care of the property of course but preventing a leak from under the wall? Not my problem. Definitely the LL's problem though. So that cost was incurred due to a fault in the building which belongs to the landlord. So the LL or builder or whoever - not the tenant - should be fixing it and providing remedies to make it habitable. And if the interim remedy was to provide a blower/dryer then that cost should be on the LL not the tenant.

        • ESEMCE on 21/07/2022 - 15:24
          +3

          No. It was to make the place habitable FOR YOU.

          Correction, it was to protect the landlord's investment, so that they could continue charging rent for a habitable place.

          Not at all unreasonable and fairly easy to show a likely correlation between the Blower/dehumidifier consumption and the increase in power usage if you have retained your billing history across a 15 month period.

        • cookie2 on 21/07/2022 - 20:21
          +1

          How did you twist this to be the fault of op? Do you hate tenants or just don't think before you write?

  • SF3 on 21/07/2022 - 14:21
    +1

    heater/dehumidifier next to the leak.

    this is where most of the electricity went to.

    • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 14:24
      +1

      yeah i had to turn them on because the water kept creeping in further to the point where it was getting underneath my furniture and this was before BM or RE did anything so I had to do something

  • bobbified on 21/07/2022 - 14:24
    +3

    This has happened to me before and they did tell me that I can claim the electricity usage back via the real estate agent. But they were just blowers and I couldn't imagine it'd use too much power, so I just didn't bother with it.

    • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 14:29
      +1

      that's what i thought too, but as the RE has basically denied my request I wanted to see what I had to do. The RE hasn't even spoken to the LL as well so I wanted to see if I could find any info that I could show to the RE to try and work this out

      • bobbified on 21/07/2022 - 14:36
        +3

        Do you have a good relationship with your REA?

        Send the electricity bills to the agent and highlight the difference in usage and the amount you think it should be. Show your workings (so they can see how you worked it out) and go from there.

        • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 14:45
          +1

          I think so lol - no issues so far. I actually wanted to move out a few months ago (we're on periodic agreement atm) but the RE asked me to stay - only time I got in contact during my 3rd year here was when the fan in the laundry stopped working.

          I already sent them the electricity bill and they came back to me today and said they want to see next month's bill as well before speaking to the landlord.

          • bobbified on 21/07/2022 - 14:46
            +1

            @fmac: Sounds like it's working. They'll probably reimburse the smaller difference between the three months! haha. But still better than nothing.

          • cookie2 on 21/07/2022 - 20:23
            +1

            @fmac: Can't they just view last month previous bill? Sounds like stalling to me

            • Franc-T on 21/07/2022 - 21:54
              +2

              @cookie2: Better to use same time last year with the increase from previous week - previous bill may be affected by seasonality if they have electric heating/cooling

            • fmac on 22/07/2022 - 07:08

              @cookie2: Already sent it to them but they want next month's bill for some reason lol

              • Quantumcat on 22/07/2022 - 07:32
                +1

                @fmac: That seems like a bad idea for the real estate because now you have the chance to be extra frugal this month and get some normal usage paid for!

  • Peter Enis on 21/07/2022 - 14:28
    +7

    Rates going up does not equate to higher usage so the REA is just saying anything to try and get rid of you.

  • akma1 on 21/07/2022 - 14:35
    +5

    This has happened to me previously as a home owner, went thru home insurance, got the blowers and claimed the electricity used via insurance. Check the appliance wattage and note the number of hours used and calculate the amount and send a notice of demand to the agent?

  • jv on 21/07/2022 - 15:13
    +1

    Wouldn't the insurance cover this?

  • Shazam82 on 21/07/2022 - 15:14

    JV is correct. I went through this exact issue. The Owners Corp insurance should cover this, if you don't get anywhere get the insurance information and call them directly.

    • neil on 21/07/2022 - 15:59
      +1

      Only owners or owners corporation management can make claims, not tenants. Usually, like any insurance there is an excess. For the added use of 450kwh, depending on the OP's provider is perhaps $100-$150 extra. Likely cheaper to not pay an excess (e.g. $250-$1000) for a small bill. Of course, the committee can make an offer to pay the extra IF the water issue is the fault of the building/OC. If it is the fault of the owner, then the owner should be paying for the added electricity.

    • fmac on 21/07/2022 - 15:24
      +1

      is there anything wrong with that…?

  • Drakesy on 21/07/2022 - 15:58
    +2

    Yeah would definitely challenge the landlord or REA on this one.

    I'd be more worried about the mould fallout as a result personally.

  • clover on 21/07/2022 - 21:02
    +2

    On hindsight, should have use a smart plug to monitor the consumption of the blower.

  • preferredusername on 22/07/2022 - 13:40

    Whereabouts are you based? Similar thing happened to me when I was renting in VIC and I eventually got the reimbursement by chasing the building company for it myself and giving them the job number/details so they could calculate the amount. Disclaimer: this was about 4 years ago.
    They eventually transferred the amount to the landlord though, and then I had to chase the REA to pass that onto me. I would not expect the REA agent to chase the builder for the reimbursement, they could not give a fork. My agent was reluctant to do anything at all when I initially told them the apartment was flooded. Fun times and good luck!

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join