Hey all,

My flat recently disbanded at the start of this year and the property manager for the old place is giving us the run around with the final bill for water and getting our bond refunded.

On the final water bill aspect, we asked, well in advance mind you, for the property manager to organise a special water meter read by watercare (were Auckland based). She didn't but took a reading herself. They have since sent us the invoice with the bill from watercare which was another estimated read (had one in November too). They advised us the difference in units of water used and what was on the bill and sent us the invoice. Our calculations don't add up with what they're trying to charge us even if we add on the fixed charges which they are liable for. Do we have a legal grounds to just pay the water usage listed on the watercare bill as we didn't see the meter nor have we been provided with a photo of the reading?

On the topic of the bond. Nothing has been processed yet as there was some extremely tiny paint work that needed to be conducted. We hadn't had any updates about it until we asked last week upon which we were told they were still waiting for their usual painting company to be back at work. We advised that we needed the bond back sooner than later and we could just be invoiced after the fact for it but this was met with a no. The amount of paint work needed to be done is minimal and they have already had new tenants move in. We see it as pointless as the spot is where we had our rubbish bin and would likely continue to receive more damage from the new tenants too. Do we have any grounds to argue this further with getting our bond back sooner? I know a bond has to be lodged with tenancy services within 14 days of being paid to the landlord/property agent and I am wondering can there be more than one lodged for the same address? If not they will have not met their legal obligations with the new tenants.

Thanks all