Water Act 1989

An owners corporation of a subdivision to which a service of water supply or sewage disposal is supplied under this Act is liable to pay any fees imposed by an Authority under a tariff for the provision of that service being any fee imposed—

in respect of the land affected by the owners corporation; and

in respect of the common property, or any part of the common property, affected by the owners corporation.

Instead of requiring an owners corporation to pay any fee imposed under a tariff referred to in subsection (1), an Authority may apportion the amount for which the owners corporation would otherwise be liable between the lots affected by it, on the basis of—

the number of lots affected by it; or

the lot liability of each lot affected by it; or

the volume of water used at each lot as measured by the meter installed for the lot; or

a combination of the methods set out in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c)—

An owners corporation may request an Authority to use any, or a combination, of the methods set out in subsection (2) when apportioning amounts under that subsection.

The request must be in writing.

A request that includes a request for an Authority to use the method set out in subsection (2)(b) must give details of lot liability for each lot affected by the owners corporation.

A request that includes a request for an Authority to use the method set out in subsection (2)(c) must specify each lot to which the request relates.

An owners corporation that makes a request under subsection (3) for an Authority to apportion amounts under subsection (2) on the basis of lot liability must give written notice to an Authority of any change in lot liability of any lot affected by it as soon as possible after the change occurs.

If requested to do so in accordance with this section, an Authority must use the method, or combination of methods, specified in the request, in apportioning an amount to which an owners corporation would otherwise be liable in respect of amounts payable for the year following the year in which the request is made and each subsequent year, and may base the apportionment on information given to it by the owners corporation under this section.

If a subdivision has more than one owners corporation and the Authority considers it impracticable to determine how much water is supplied to the land affected by each owners corporation it may—

under subsection (1), treat one of those owners corporations as being the only owners corporation for the subdivision; and

under subsection (2)(a), apportion the amount for which that owners corporation would otherwise be liable between all the lots in the subdivision.

Any fee imposed under a tariff on the owner of a lot affected by an owners corporation (other than a lot used primarily for residential purposes) must be offset against the amount for which the owners corporation is liable under subsection (1).

Any amount for which an owner of a lot is liable under subsection (2) must be offset against the amount for which the owners corporation affecting that lot is liable under subsection (1).

The liability imposed by subsection (1) does not relieve any other person from liability to pay the fee imposed under a tariff on, and the charges payable by, that person.

Terms used in this section have the same meaning as in the Subdivision Act 1988.