Buying a property

When you buy a property, you don’t need to notify us.

We don’t disconnect the services when a property changes hands, so water and sewerage services will be up and running from the moment you move in. This also means you won’t need to call us to set up an account as it will happen automatically as part of the settlement process.

Property settlement

When you buy a property, your solicitor or conveyancer will contact us to determine any amounts due or payable in relation to your property. This is because the seller of the property is responsible for any unpaid charges that may have incurred prior to sale.

The solicitor or conveyancer should also request a final water meter read to provide an up-to-date water meter reading for water usage charges.

Once the property is sold and settlement has taken place, the new owner becomes liable for payment of water and rates charges.

Your first water account

When the property settlement is finalised, we don’t send a final bill to the seller. We will continue to read the meter as part of our normal reading cycle (approximately every 90 days) and send the next bill to you as the new owner.

You may find you get a bill for water that you did not use – this is normal and would have been accounted for as part of the settlement process. Touch base with your solicitor or conveyancer if you have any concerns.

Water account in previous owner’s name

It is not unusual for your first water account to be issued in the previous owner’s name as it can take a number of months for the transfer of the property to be registered with the NSW Land Registry Services.

Once the new owner's details are registered on title, Council is advised and it is at that point, ownership details are updated for Rates and Water.