Yes, tenants can sign up to MyAccount. Online you can view the account balance, pay a bill, set up direct debit. But you must be an authorised tenant if you want to do these tasks:

• View billing history

• Set up e-billing

• Get a copy of a bill

• Apply for a leak allowance

• Link your bill to Xero

• Change billing address

See Grant access to your account and Help for tenants.

Yes, anyone can set up these payments. Remember you will need to cancel the payment if you move house. See Pay a bill.

To cancel direct debit: Phone us on (09) 442 2222, press 2.

To cancel a recurring credit card: Please phone us on (09) 442 2222, press 2.

An authorised tenant is permitted by their landlord to deal directly with us about bills and payments. See Landlords and property managers.

The landlord is responsible for repairs of private pipes and plumbing.

Landlords and property managers.

See Help for tenants or Landlords and property managers for details of your payment responsibilities.

The landlord/ property owner is ultimately responsible for the charges at the property, regardless of:

• any billing arrangement we may have with the landlord/owner

• provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 dealing with liability for water and wastewater charges between landlords and tenants.

For more information, see the customer contract.

The government site Tenancy Services has information for landlords and tenants about paying the water bill:

Utilities and other payments

Water and wastewater charges

By law we must provide a continuous supply of water, as it is essential for survival. Unlike other utilities such as power or gas, we cannot turn off the service.

We supply the service to the property, not to individual tenants. This means that the landlord or property owner must ensure the continuous water supply is paid for.

It is up to the landlord and tenant to agree on who will pay each part of the bill.

If a tenant is paying the usage (volumetric) part of the water bill, landlords should:

• Give the tenant authority to talk to us about bills and payments.

To authorise a tenant, contact us:

Phone (09) 442 2222, press 2

You may also want to choose the one-off fixed charge payment (an option for landlords/property managers).

Our contract is with the property owner (the customer). If a customer appoints a project manager and draws up an agreement (PMA), we need a signed copy of it. When dealing with the property manager we can only do what the PMA allows – for instance, requesting a refund or authorising tenants.

TIP: Before sending us a signed PMA, it would be helpful to send us a draft, so that we can make sure the project manager has the authority we may require.

Yes. If you own or manage a tenanted property, you can pay the fixed charge for wastewater as an upfront payment once a year in July.

Learn more and opt in: Fixed charge payment

It depends on the arrangement with the property manager, but usually the property manager pays the account in full. Then the owner or tenants pay other charges separately, depending on the agreements they have. See Pay a fixed annual charge.

The first and last names of the owner will be printed on the bill. If there are more than three owners of a property the names may not all be printed.

The name of any person who is not a legal owner will not be on the bill. This is because the contract is between Watercare and the owner.

Commercial tenants/lessees

When the bill is sent to a commercial tenant, the owner’s name will be printed on the first line of the postal address. No employee name will be printed on the bill.

To change the name on the bill from the owner to the lessee, please complete the change of commercial lease form, including the direct debit form.

If the request comes from the owner, bills can be sent to a tenant without a completed change of commercial lease form.

Yes, you can sign up for e-billing. You can have bills emailed to multiple addresses, including tenants.

Bills can be sent to a tenant at the owner’s request (by post or email). See e-billing.

• No names of tenants will be on the bill.

• The second line of the postal address will say c/- The Tenant.

• The owner will have an email copy of the bill sent to them.

See also above: Whose name is on the bill?

If you have an unexpectedly high water bill, it may be due to a leak. To learn more, see:

• Higher bill than usual

• How to check for a leak

It is the property owner's responsibility to fix leaks and pay for any repairs on the private network. See Who is responsible for pipes?

We recommend you fix leaks as quickly as possible. Not only will it save money and reduce water wastage – if it takes you a long time to fix your leak, it may affect your ability to claim a full allowance.

Once you've been made aware of the leak, you must send the form to us within three months.

The allowance will be for excess water use compared to your average use calculated from your previous two meter reads.

If you have not been at the property for a full year, the typical average daily use will be applied.

We will process requests within 10 working days of receiving your application, or earlier if possible.

If we accept your application, you'll receive a letter stating the allowance amount, how much you have left to pay on your bill and your new due date.

The allowance will appear as a credit in the current charges section on your next bill.

The most likely reason is that we alternate actual and estimated meter readings.

The chart below shows an example of this scenario. The first high bill due to a leak is in May. The leak is fixed sometime in June or July, but there is a second high bill in July.

The estimate in June is significantly lower as it is based on the last two normal actual reads (January and March).

The July bill is still higher than usual because it has recorded the rest of the leak between receiving the May bill and when it was fixed (sometime between the June and July bills).

View an example of this on a bill.

If you think this situation applies to you, please contact us so we can consider a further allowance. Phone: (09) 442 2222, press 2.

If you want a refund, please complete and send the form to request a refund.

In some situations, such as when a tenant is seeking a refund, we may ask you to provide receipts as proof of who made the initial payments to us.

Yes, but the allowance will be for wastewater charges only.

If you have another leak within two years of receiving the allowance, you may send a new application. You must attach a plumber’s invoice.

Note: the allowance for a second leak will only be for excess wastewater charges.