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Property Management company commissions historical water audit and a £57,000 overcharge by Severn Trent Water is revealed

Author: Graham Mann, Water Audit Expert.

As the appointed water consultants for a major property management company H²O Building Services carried out a historical water audit to a small selection of properties, although the property management company pays the water bills and passes through the costs to the clients, assisting in driving down costs for tenants is seen as a valuable added value service.

The project has run for 12 months to date and has secured refunds of £165,000 for tenants with the latest refund of a vacated Tesco site which is now demolished. The refund was backdated to 2004 resulting in a refund of £57,000, representing charges levied for the collection and disposal of surface water from the site. A site survey by H²O Building Services surveyors indicated that all surface water was draining to a private water course and was never received by the water company which claimed that a refund beyond 6 years exceeded the statute of limitations, we challenged the water company ruling and we were then granted a 9 year refund.

The total savings and refunds to date are nearly £200,000.

Senior Water Consultant at H²O Building Services Graham Mann said “On the back of the huge success of this project we have been in communication with other property management companies, they also recognise the importance of assisting tenants reduce water costs. Talking to other property management companies has uncovered many serious unresolved issues such as  passing on water costs to tenants where there is only one water meter serving a large site example a Shopping Centre or large mixed retail and residential site. I recall one large retail site in Scotland where we reduced the size of the water meter which saved £ 15,000 per year on standing charges, all tenants benefitted as the savings were passed on and welcomed by the tenants. Multi sites are sometimes extremely difficult to manage from a water re-charge point of view we have decades of experience in resolving complicated water issues for tenants and property managers alike, often resulting in refunds and savings.”