MORE than 800 tenants of one of Limerick’s largest property letting and management agents have received letters this week warning they will be in breach of their letting agreements unless they register with Irish Water or pay €260 to the agency.
KMPM has 850 Limerick tenants and they have sent letters reminding them that it is a condition of their lease that they are responsible for water rates.
Tenants are instructed to either register with the water company or pay a €260 charge to KMPM. Otherwise, they are in breach of their letting agreement and could be evicted.
The agency will then use the €260 to pay the charge for the property in question.
Angry tenants who contacted the Limerick Post are demanding to know why the letting agency is taking it upon itself to collect the water charges.
But KMPM boss, Kersten Mehl defended the move, describing the water charges as “a nightmare scenario” for property owners.
“When we let a property, the ESB and gas charges are put in the tenant’s name. If they don’t pay their bills, the services are cut off. We have no such control over the water charges,” he told the Limerick Post.
“The problem is, no-one knows what’s going to happen. What are we to do if a tenant doesn’t pay the charge and the owner gets a bill for €500 a couple of years down the road? The owner will be asking us what did we do to ensure the tenant paid the bill?”
Mr Mehl said that the letting company “is not trying to profit from this. We are trying to encourage our tenants to register with Irish Water in line with the legislation. If they register, it will cost €160. If they don’t, it will cost €260 and we have to ensure that the owner is not left with that bill”.
