Moving from one shared water meter to individual meters

In many older buildings there is a single water meter and the bill is split by ownership share. Which means a person living alone pays almost the same as the family of five next door.

Why it causes so much conflict

Because water is not like the lift. The lift is equally available to everyone, but water is consumed, and consumption differs enormously between flats. Splitting it by share turns an individual cost into a common one, and that only holds up until somebody does the maths.

What majority is needed

Fitting individual meters is an improvement that alters the common installation. It requires a three-fifths majority of owners and shares. Unanimity is not needed, which surprises many people who assume the change is impossible.

Careful though: if you also want to change the basis of apportionment set out in the by-laws — from share to actual consumption — that means amending the by-laws, and there unanimity does rule. Check it before voting, because they are two different things.

What it really costs

It depends entirely on how the plumbing is laid out. If the building has independent risers per flat, it is relatively straightforward. If the distribution is a ring, or each flat is fed by several branches, the work gets complicated and much more expensive. Get a survey before taking figures to the meeting: the most common mistake is budgeting on what is assumed rather than on what is actually there.

When it pays off

When occupancy varies a lot between flats, when there are commercial units with high consumption, or when a leak is suspected that nobody can locate because all the consumption arrives mixed together.

And there is an effect almost nobody anticipates, usually the biggest saving of all: as soon as everyone pays for their own, the building's total consumption falls. The common bill shrinks simply by being individualised.