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Original poster

Would a water meter put you off buying a 4-bed, 2-bath family home?

102 replies

Aprexio · 20/02/2022 18:44

DH and I are empty nesters and the family home is worth about £450,000. We're thinking of having a water meter which would definitely save us money.

But, we may downsize in a few years and think a family would be the most likely buyers (just as we were when we bought it).

Would a water meter be a deterrent to buyers?
Have you bought a house without one in preference to a home which did have a meter?

One of the bathrooms has a power shower, there's a built in dishwasher and it's a medium-sized garden which needs watering from the mains only in very dry weather.

OP posts:
OMGItsEarly · 20/02/2022 18:47

Wouldn’t buy a house with a meter again.

We moved from no meter to a house (same size/bathrooms) with a meter. The extra cost is massive and that’s with timed 4 min showers, no baths, not flushing after every wee etc.

OxanaVorontsova · 20/02/2022 18:47

Wouldn’t worry me. New builds are all on meters, ours is 20 years old 4 bed 3 bath, having a meter coats us less than not.

LIZS · 20/02/2022 18:49

Have exactly that and no not an issue. Many properties have water meters or are being upgraded to one.

RebeccaManderley · 20/02/2022 18:50

Most houses are being fitted with meters now. Many households save quite a bit with a water meter.

Porthia · 20/02/2022 18:50

It wouldn’t occur to me to be worried about that. We bought a house with a water meter 6 years ago and the cost of water is nothing compared to the insane costs of gas and electricity.

bigbluebus · 20/02/2022 18:53

I think all houses built from 1990 had to have a water meter fitted (ours was built in 1992 and has one). So depending on where you live lots of houses will have them as standard so I can't imagine people will even take it into consideration .

gogohm · 20/02/2022 18:54

Not here, all houses have meters

ShallWeTalkAboutBruno · 20/02/2022 18:55

Aren’t most houses on a meter now? We’re a family of 5, have lived in 3 houses and all were metered. Current house is a large 4 bed with a meter.
So no, it wouldn’t put me off.

gogohm · 20/02/2022 18:55

Our water here is £500 less than i paid unmetered at my old house, 4 adults

ShallWeTalkAboutBruno · 20/02/2022 18:55

And our is £30 a month, compared to £250 for gas and electricity, so it’s the least of our worries.

chickywoo · 20/02/2022 18:57

It wouldn’t put me off, changing to a meter was first thing we did, A water meter in an expensive home ( I’m guessing you are in high band council tax) is cheaper than rates.
We have 4 bed 2 bathroom, family of 6 council tax band e, rates would be £100+ a month, our last quarterly metered bill was £130, water meter is always a no brainier unless you are in council tax band a/b with large family then rates probs better.
We couldn’t understand why the previous owner of our home ( who lived alone and was abroad 6 months of year) was paying the ridiculously high rates when she could have had a meter.

AuntieMarys · 20/02/2022 19:01

And a family may not buy your house....there's just the 2 of us and we bought a 4 bed/ 3 bathroomed house.

redandwhite1 · 20/02/2022 19:02

I'm sure we pay more not being on a meter

£60 a month at the moment!

MMAMPWGHAP · 20/02/2022 19:03

Isn’t it common for a meter to have to be installed when a property changes hands anyway? So your potential buyer would have to have one.

Beth13579 · 20/02/2022 19:04

I think that water meters are becoming compulsory in many areas - we had one fitted in London about four years ago and had no choice in the matter. The only option we had was for them to switch it on immediately, or to give us 18 months grace to work on getting our water consumption down first.
I'm sure other areas will follow suit, or at least they'll want to put one in if there's a change of ownership.

BitOutOfPractice · 20/02/2022 19:06

Water meters will be compulsory in a few years time anyway so I wouldn’t let it stop you getting one.

CovidCorvid · 20/02/2022 19:07

In my area any house which is sold has to go onto a water meter.

CovidCorvid · 20/02/2022 19:07

For the new owners. So possibly regardless of if you have a meter or not any new owners would end up with one.

RoseMartha · 20/02/2022 19:08

Most homes have meters where I am.

HandlebarLadyTash · 20/02/2022 19:08

Wouldn't bother me, we should pay for the water we use.

cptartapp · 20/02/2022 19:16

Four bed two bath here, band E, we pay £37 a month unmetered. Not convinced it would be any cheaper on a meter.

RedWingBoots · 20/02/2022 19:24

Where I live in London, Thames Water is compulsory water metering every single household they can.

It has been for about the last decade if you moved in they would give you a water meter, now they are going around forcing those who can have them to have meters.

It has caused leak after leak making the normal amount of leaks worse.

RedWingBoots · 20/02/2022 19:28

Sorry my answer is that in a lot of areas homes are having compulsory water meters fitted as the water company has the legal powers to do so.

How the water company is doing this depends on area but by the time you sell it should be compulsory in your area for at least new owners.

Original poster
Aprexio · 20/02/2022 19:31

Thanks for all the replies.

For those of you with meters - do you have a dishwasher? And how often does it go on if so?

Thanks again, this is all useful info.

OP posts:
ShallWeTalkAboutBruno · 20/02/2022 19:32

@Aprexio

Thanks for all the replies.

For those of you with meters - do you have a dishwasher? And how often does it go on if so?

Thanks again, this is all useful info.

We have a meter, dishwasher runs usually once, sometimes twice a day. Washing machine once a day. Family of 5.