As reported in 18th Nov news story "Labour to make landlords assist in cleaning up water debts" the Welsh Government's legislation comes into force on Jan 1st. It will be mandatory that all landlords will have to supply tenant's details to the relevant water companies.

 

Landlords should be aware that as the two water companies DCWW and Dee Valley Water are Welsh based, they also cover other areas in England such as Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Even if landlords are living outside these areas and renting properties in Wales and border areas, they are still liable to register the existing tenant details with those Water Companies by Jan 21st.

Failure to do so will mean that landlords will automatically become responsible for their tenant's water debts from Jan 1st and the information must be received by the 21st Jan 2015 deadline.

All new tenancies starting from Jan 1st 2015 onwards, landlords will have to ensure that the details are supplied to the water companies - 21 days before the tenancy commences.

The details of the tenants starting a new tenancy or existing tenants that have to be supplied are:

The start date of each tenancy
The address of the property
The full name of each tenant residing in the property
The date of birth of each tenant - please note if you do not have this information then you must inform the Companies.

To make sure whether landlords' properties are supplied by the two water companies and are within the boundaries for this mandatory process, then go to:

 

Other points to be aware of:

 

Landlords will still have to supply the details of any new or additional tenant that moves into the property.

 

Those landlords that are currently paying the water bill as it forms part of the tenancy agreement is not required to provide tenant details.

If Landlords have appointed agents  whose properties are liable then just to be safe, formally notify the agent that they must conduct the process on their behalf.

From the 1st of December there is a relatively simple and quick process where you provide the required details to the Water Authorities by using this link:

The site provides instructions and a guide on how to input the details, once completed the information is sent directly to the Water Companies.

Without labouring a point, eligible landlords who fail to carry out this process will automatically become responsible for any tenants that accrue water debts. If landlords for existing tenants miss the deadline of Jan 21st, then still register at a later date but be aware they will be liable for any debts starting Jan 1st 2015 up till then.

The Welsh government has introduced this system in their fight to reduce bad water debt, Labour have stated that once in power, they will pass legislation to enforce this process and of course the present government is considering it at this moment in time.