Irish Water has clarified its position regarding who pays for what when it comes to water charges for rental properties.

There was confusion yesterday after Irish Water posted a tweet in response to a member of the public who enquired if, as landlord, they were liable should their tenant fail to return their water application pack.

@trimbleirl If the tenant does not return the completed pack, the landlord will be liable for water charges.

— Irish Water (@IrishWater) October 15, 2014

The Finance Minister Michael Noonan also reiterated that clarification was needed with regard to charging by Irish Water when speaking to The Pat Kenny Show this morning.

The company has issued a statement this morning clarifying which party is liable for charges in relation to rental property.

Irish Water says that a tenant is responsible for the payment of the water charges for that property and should register with Irish Water in order to claim their allowances.

In the case of landlords – it says if you own a property that is unoccupied you are responsible for payment of the water charges and should register with Irish Water to ensure you are charged the ‘unoccupied’ rate.

However, if a tenant has not registered with Irish Water, the company will contact the property owner (ie the landlord) to ensure that the responsible party (ie the tenant) receives the bill. Irish Water will announce further details of this shortly.

In addition to this, Irish Water states: “If the tenant moves out of the property without closing the account, the tenant remains responsible for the payment and Irish Water will follow this up in the standard ways.”