Vesimaksu new way of scam?

[Upphew]

I have never paid extra water fee wherever I lived, be it Student apartment or private one. The one that I'm living now is private one but doesn't have water fee, only separate Electricity and I pretty like this kind of deal, I pay what I use for.

I am looking to move for a bigger apartment across the street and the housing belongs to another company, the Rent was OK but then the Vesimaksu hit my head, 22 Euros per Person. The same area, the same location, same municipality, same locality, same street, the difference is house number and the company but the water fee 22 Euros per Person per Month. WTF. Suppose if I had 4 kids then water fee = 22 x 6 = 132 Euros per month. Isn't that killer ?

I am not saying no to water fee, 22 euros per month for a apartment is pretty affordable but multiplying it as per person, damn. Is it new style of scam housing company comes up with? or its some extra income for agents as part of their commission? whatever it is the trend is unhealthy.

BTW, who fixes these water rates? and how is it fixed? according to building? or rate differes as per lessor?

Back in the day you got one water meter and X amount of flats behind it. Housing coop paid the bills and divided it by occupants. In a while you get nice round number that you can put as the price per person. That way is going to end as metering must be done by apartment now. Saves water.

Kids use toilet, make dirty dishes and clothes and need to be washed too. Average consumption is 155l/day x 30 days x 4 persons = about 18,5m3 of water. Iirc you pay for the water about 3€/m3 in Helsinki region and Iirc about double for warm water (about 1/3 of the consumption). Sounds that you get ripped off? Then make the calculation with 270l/day/person.

https://www.hsy.fi/sites/Esitteet/Esitt ... sa2015.pdf
http://www.motiva.fi/koti_ja_asuminen/m ... denkulutus

[riku2]

Iirc you pay for the water about 3€/m3 in Helsinki region and Iirc about double for warm water (about 1/3 of the consumption)

I thought the water company only supplied cold water. For those connected to district heating some of that is then warmed with a heat exchanger using the district heating connection to turn it into hot tap water.

[Flossy1978]

I always thought water was cheap in Finland

Pay one small sum a month and get unlimited water usage, cold and hot? It's great!

I never paid attention to the price, as it was always in the amount of rent. So you don't think about it.

22€ is some pricey water. Better hope it's nice and pure

[FinnGuyHelsinki]

Whether the 22€ is just covering the actual average cost, I've no idea, but some people - when not having their own water meter and thus not paying according to their own consumption - have no qualms about having 1,5 hour showers (I personally know one, and no, it's not me) and things like that. Surely some would do it even if paying for it fully themselves, but on average people spend less when they're saving their own money.

[rinso]

Part of the € 22,- may also be to build a fund for a pipe renovation.

[Beep_Boop]

I pay 20 per person in the center of Helsinki. I think it's quite normal.

[FinnGuyHelsinki]

I also think the cost is brilliant, if you have ever lived in a country where each house had its own hot water heater, you will know that the water cost in Finland is fantastic. Those who don't like paying their share of a water bill need to go and live in an omakotitalo where they have nobody else to complain about

Newer apartment buildings and row houses often already have dedicated water meters for each apartment. More often than not people that are for paying a "shared" price are those that by doing it end up paying for less than they consume. 15€ or 20€, I don't really care myself, it is just the principle that people should be paying according to their consumption, or at least it should be somehow factored in.

[Flossy1978]

And to make you feel even worse.....

Many homes outside of kehä 3 still use well water. So they pay a yearly sum towards the pump, which is very little. And a bill for whatever means they used to heat the water.

I lived in a home with the above for a while. It was great.

But then when your city decides you need to connect to the city's water system..... You end up paying well over 10,000€ for the privilege of having a pipe attached to your home

I think I would have been one of those people that man was complaining about I use to waste so much water.

Now I'm back home after fourteen years of living in Finland...... There are no longer 20 minute showers ;(

Finland is so advanced in technologies, they should use all their now unemployed engineers to create a system where all flats and homes have their own meters, not just modern places.

I knew a man who used so much water, his housing company made him pay a lot more monthly, than the other tennants. We're talking a whole more, because he thought you had to wash your clothes on a four hour cycle. What a dumbarse.

[Beep_Boop]

I've seen that for some housing and some housing doesn't have any extra amount for water.

That's because some housing companies merge the water cost with the rent cost

[Upphew]

22 is normal and it is also normal to pay per person, have a look on oikotie and you'll see

I've seen that for some housing and some housing doesn't have any extra amount for water. Even for identical houses/apartments with identical rent the water fee differs.

22 is Normal for single person or studio. I agree family apartment could be upto 40 per apartment, but when your water bill only is 132 Euros per month that's NOT normal, in my opinion.

There should be some measure to control these kind of freak costs.

True, there are a lot of apartments that don't have their own meter yet. Their ways of calculating the costs differ a lot. Auditors should make a fuzz if the water prices haven't been checked for a while.

I've shown you the sources for my calculation. HSY is cheap as F, I pay 4,75/m3. 22€ per person is ok to you, so shouldn't family of four have 88? 132 is a lot in my opinion too though.

There is a measure. It is the water meter. You can always see the books if you are a member of the board.

[Kössi K]

It is as previous people have said; either the water cost, or some of it, is hidden in the rent, or it's added separately, based on the apartment building owners' decisions. The overall costs are taken into account in one way or the other.

I just found it really surprising to hear that the OP had never paid extra water fees before. I've lived here all my life in all kinds of houses from kerrostalo to rivitalo to ok-talo, in student housing, private rentals, and my own house; and only one of the +15 places I've lived in, had the water bill included in the rent. Even the student flats have had water bills separately every time.

That said, the places I've lived in have had a large scale of water bills: from 10 eur/month in Tampere and Turku, to 24 e/month/person in Raisio. The ok-talo I've owned naturally had their own water meters, and IMO, the fairest way of billing but then again, that very rarely happens in apartment buildings.

However, it really is just that simple: either you accept the rate as a part of your total living expenses, or you may even *gasp* talk/negotiate with the flat owner, or you rent somewhere else. It's only as complicated as you make it, not worthy of a conspiracy theory nor will it make Iltalehti headlines.

[Upphew]

The ok-talo I've owned naturally had their own water meters, and IMO, the fairest way of billing but then again, that very rarely happens in apartment buildings.

All the new buildings have per apartment metering and all the buildings that will be renovated and have been renovated since September 2013 should have one too.

[Kössi K]

Well, the lessor has, in some cases, the option to charge the water on his own will, too..
One example (of a several similar I've had): I rented a small apartment at the end of a house (ok-talo), and the water bills for both ends of the house went to the owner (living at the bigger half of the house). So, they just set a nominal charge for me, I remember it being 15 eur or similar.

So the situation varies a lot, depending on where you rent and especially what type of an accommodation. But indeed, it's much more set in stone in big apartment building complexes. Meaning that it's the same generally for everyone owning/renting a flat in that building. E.g. that expensive example from Raisio I had (24e/head/month) -- and it wasn't even a new building, nor had any pipeline works done or coming up. It was simply something that the apt.building company/committee had set.

....And yet another good reason why I refuse to live in kerrostalo again.

[Upphew]

HSY is cheap as F

hei, by the way I was talking about Jyvaskyla. I agree its not cheap here either.

Certainly not. 4,64€/m3 vs 3€ in Helsinki.

[scottledeuce]

In my situation me and the girlfriend rent a place from a housing company and pay €15 each for water each month even though we have a meter so €30 total.

Every six months they check the meter and every time we use far less than the €15 allowance and we have a dishwasher, daily shower etc so not like we are living some tramp life either
before Christmas we got the usage and our bill was (minus €73) previous (minus €62) so 73/6/2 is €6.08 extra we each pay each month for water we don't use and our real usage is about €9 or €10 per month

if you are not a family with kids chances are they are overestimating, is it a scam..no, what can you do about it...probably very little.