Water Meter

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DenizIsmail
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Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Dear members ; the KibKom forum has always been good to me and I would like to put out another question please which any advice/guidance would be most appreciated.

I have a holiday home in Alagadi ( Esenetpe) which we use twice yearly ( 2 weeks in the summer months and 1 week usually in April). We currently have no water meter however the Esentepe belediye are insisting that we have a water meter installed and are in the process of banning tankered water supply.

My question is for those living in Esentepe area what the experience whether good or bad has been with water meters please

war horse
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Re: Water Meter

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Post by war horse »

I can honestly say bad. We have a water meter, that hardly ever works! Yes when it works the water is very cheap, but there is also a monthly charge for the use of the water even though we had to purchased the meter and pay for the pipe work to be connectec from Esentepe, as we are in Bahcelli. Before we were in Tatlisu, lovely spring water.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by come_on_aylin »

I don't think you have a choice, tankers are banned to properties without water meters.
The water meters are not without problems, at least 20% of them are faulty according to the Belediye workman who was replacing some on our site a few weeks ago, at the cost of ₺750 per replacement meter plus any amounts owed due to the faulty meter going rogue (allowing meter to register minus tonnes)
I don't know what the cost us to be connected to mains as it depends on a lot of things but you have probably know already.
Monthly costs are ₺5 for rental added to rubbish collection totalling ₺32
Water is ₺4.5 per tonne prepaid to a card which you insert into the meter
The meter should stop when the credit runs out, pressing the button on the meter should give you an emergency 3 tonnes. See above though re faulty meters.
The meter locks if water hasn't run through it for 30 days theoretically, experience shows they can lock up anytime resulting in visit(s) to the Belediye to get someone to unlock it. Sometimes re-inserting the card and pressing the button can unlock it, especially when the card has credit.
I assume you will get one of the new blue meters which they are replacing the old white meters with so perhaps they are more reliable...
If you can get someone /management company to check your meter on a regular basis you're less likely to have problems.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by gates »

Don’t worry about it the water will be turned off in summer months as it has for the last 3 years since i had mine put in then you have to use tankers. This is threatened every year

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by come_on_aylin »

gates wrote:
Sun 23 May 2021 12:04 pm
Don’t worry about it the water will be turned off in summer months as it has for the last 3 years since i had mine put in then you have to use tankers. This is threatened every year
You must be very unlucky, we've been in Esentepe 15 years and haven't ever had to use a tanker for house water. It did get close before we switched to Turkish water. We only have a total of 3 tonnes capacity in tanks. Last year everybody had a problem because of the broken water pipe from Turkey but even then we survived.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by gates »

They don’t turn off the water in the village only the sites like Karpasia and such. Let’s see how we get on from mid June till October

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Thank you all for advice/guidance. Roughly how much is it to install the Water Meter please ?

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Geoff1131 »

Around 7300tl plus anything you owe in local taxes. Just go up to the Beli office and see the guys in the front office, pay them and they will arrange for your meter to be fitted.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Thank you all for your prompt replies much appreciated.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by gates »

Another thing if you do go ahead ask first if they have got new meters as fitted a second hand one that went wrong great agro getting another that one second hand now going wrong not holding the credit. It’s really is a nightmare an expensive one at that. If you don’t live here just for holidays i would not bother

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Thank you for the advice gates. However the Belediye are forcing me to have a Water Meter . I only visit our holiday home twice a year as previous mentioned. 2 weeks in the summer and 1 week usually April time. We have no mains connection and 3 houses within our site use water from our WELLS. However Belediye are now saying after 7 years of purchasing our home that this is illegal and are trying to force us to have a Water Meter installed

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Geoff1131 »

I have been following the water meter saga in Esentepe for the past few years and remember in the early days, the government agreed with the local councils to ban tankered water and extracting water from wells as long as the local council had provided a mains supply to a point near to the property affected and therefore forcing the property to connect to the mains supply. It has been a long hard struggle but having mains water is far better than using tankers. We now have a good supply of water most of the time. And the few times that the water is off is normally down to other issues on the island. As the Turkish water pipe line failure and burst pipes around the reservoirs or pump failures , but these are sorted within a few days. So all in all i am glad we are on mains water, even though Esentepe area have had to pay a higher price than most.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Medjoul1 »

DenizIsmail, ask them to kindly show you the point of law where it states it is illegal to draw water from your well.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by gates »

It is not illegal to use a well. This is not first time this happen. Every year same. Say can’t sort till get here and never turn up. Keep your money in your bin

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Thank you once again all. I have instructed Solicitors to look into it for me. They have asked for me to obtain a water bill statement from the Belediye to confirm that I have used up 5805TL of water since I purchased the house in 2014 although I have confirmation from the estate agent when we purchased to confirm that we have no mains water connection and that water has always been used from the WELL on the site . Lets see what happens ?

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by gates »

They are good at that. Sending out bills. So now if you connect they will want that first. It all sounds very expensive especially if you have the wrong breaf

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

My solicitor has written to Belediye and we await their response

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Mowgli597 »

(Moved from the topic Immigration Office in Girne

I don’t know if this is of any use but we have been unable to return to the TRNC since the pandemic struck last March. Before leaving our home in Ozanköy (Girne Belediye) I turned the water off at the mains.

However we are still billed TL57 each month which comprises the fixed charges for sewage and infrastructure, I imagine. There presumably is no water being used since the gardeners get the supply from our neighbour’s well.

A quick calculation at that rate would show that since 2016 (circa 5 years/60 months ago) you would have been charged TL3420 with no actual water usage. Esentepe is known to be in a world of its own as regards water charges.

Similarly we are being charged TL27.30 per month by Kibtek, even though the electricity is also turned off - presumably for similar fixed charges.

This isn’t a complaint against the utilities: they have to cover their own fixed costs regardless of consumption.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Thank you all for your messages been very useful. I do not know what to do. If we go through our solicitors to obtain confirmation from the Girne Immigration office of my entry and exit to TRNC since 2016 and then get them to negotiate the estimated water bill of 5805tl I am aware that paying the solicitors to negotiate the bill I could end up paying more overall than the bill itself ? However after reading everyones post I do not want to get a water meter installed if it means it gets locked if not in use for more than 30 days . We only visit TRNC 3 weeks of the year and this would mean that ours would be locked each time .

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Soner »

If water meters get locked in Gecitkale, Belediye send staff out immediately to unlock. It is just a matter of them inserting their card into the meter.
As for Esentepe Bele, I can't tell you what their reaction time would be.
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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

Just received an update to my going water meter and water connection issues with the Belediye yesterday. The Mayor of Esentepe is willing to reduce our estimated water bill to 3000tl from 5000tl however is not willing to compromise the water meter price and wants 7310tl ? As previously mentioned on the forum since 2016 we have only used the house in Alagadi approx 10 weeks. He will provide us with a breakdown of how he has come with an estimated bill of 5000tl water assuage. All he says is that we might have a gardener who was using water for our small garden ? We have told him that we have no gardener and only have a clear out of the garden once a year. He has now threaten us saying that if we do not pay he will take us to court.

So far I have paid £300 in solicitor fees and I know if we do end up in court our legal fees will most likely be more than the estimated 5000tl for water usage and 7310tl water meter ?

This man is ripping ex pats within the Esentepe area. Is there any of you that is prepared to come forward and support me with any evidence of your experience dealing with this man if the case ends up in court ?

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by DenizIsmail »

received an email from my solicitor this morning advising me against going to court:

Dear Deniz

Thank you for your emails.

I understand your frustration at this situation and that you feel that this is unjust. I realise that this is a matter of principle for you as well. However, putting that to one side, I think it is best to be pragmatic and look for the easiest way to resolve and put an end to the situation.

The amount of 3000TL at the current exchange rate is only around £250. In reality, if the Municipality does take proceedings against you, the costs of defending the proceedings will far exceed this. It is unlikely that you will recover any of these costs because, even if the Municipality cannot successfully prove its claim for the whole 5000TL which it was originally claiming, the fact is that there is an illegal connection there and so the court is likely to find that you are liable to pay something for the water usage. Therefore, the court is not likely to make any costs order against the Municipality in your favour – costs orders are only usually made against the Plaintiff when the case is entirely unsuccessful. In addition, this type of litigation could go on for around 2 years. During this time, you will have this hanging over you and may have to attend some hearings in person. You have already incurred significant expense in fighting this.

In addition, although you have only stayed at the property for around 10 weeks since you purchased it, in addition to water usage, there are monthly standing charges for the water and other items which are included within the water bill such as rubbish collection, road sweeping etc. On top of this, late payment fines will be added. Therefore, even if your water usage does only amount to £100, with the additional charges, there is the possibility that the total amount which the Municipality can prove might be close the £250 which they are currently asking for.

On top of that, having an illegal water connection is also a criminal offence. Therefore, if this matter escalates, the Municipality could also make a complaint to the police and you may have to pay a fine.

In light of this, my own view is that Funda has done very well to negotiate this bill down – I really did not think that they would budge on this. Therefore, I think the best course of action is to pay and connect to the system so that you can ensure that you will have a fully legal mains water supply and will not have any further problems in the future.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by benjaminbutton »

Its sad Denizlsmail, but I feel your Advocate is correct. On a totally different matter but here in the TRNC we had a very similar letter regarding a matter where we genuinely felt we were owed thousands. The advice was such that we could easily lose, (even if we had right on our side) and have to pay not only our costs plus the other sides which could amount to around 12,000pounds or more and could drag on for years. It still leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth after all this time.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Medjoul1 »

Agree with all of the above.It's the dark side of the TRNC

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Trigger »

Personally, I would just pay it and try and just write it off as one of them things. I don’t think you can win this battle and I don’t think it is worth the stress or the risk.

Just my opinion of course. Good luck.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Geoff1131 »

I think the best way to look at it is that a water connection that is installed and paid for will be an asset to selling the property if the need ever arises, the same as an electricity supply, So the installation costs can be recouped when selling. The cost of a ton of water is around 5tl so not a lot, and as far as i know ( we have been connected to the main supply now in the Bahceli area for over a year ) there have only been a couple of cases where water was not available for us. And these were not due to problems in Esentepe but to the whole of TRNC in general. All in all i am glad our site got connected to the water line as we had to constantly monitor the underground water tanks feeding the apartments and order water as needed. It is so much better and easier now. We all have to pay Council taxes and it is a lot cheaper here than in the UK so just get connected and relax.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by benjaminbutton »

Geoff1131, wish our water was 5tl. Out this way its 10tl.

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Re: Water Meter

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Post by Geoff1131 »

When you have been used to paying up to 20tl a ton for tankered water for nearly 15 years even 10tl would seem ok.

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Post by benjaminbutton »

True Geoff1131!!

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