Charging water rates on a rental premises is a good step to take. You don't want to end up with a huge bill because of someone else using water excessively. The whole idea of a rental investment property is to make money after all. The last thing you want is to be losing money on an investment. If you charge for water, then your tenants will probably not use water excessively. They are more likely to keep an eye on their water usage and be more responsible with it.The best example is the New South Wales Housing Department which charges tenants for water usage in accordance with the 1987 residential tenancies act. The tenants of the housing department pay an actual water charge or a percentage water charge. This depends on factors such as whether the water authority can supply sufficient usage information and whether the meter is shared or is individual. Since October, 2009, the department has charged a percentage based on the rent a tenant pays. The rate is around 4.3% of the rent payable. It can be an incentive for tenants to preserve water as much as possible and encourage them not to waste water. Water is certainly a precious commodity these days. A real estate agent can help you to decide what sort of charges should be put into place. Using a real estate agent to handle the rental premises for you can save you a lot of stress and hassle.Having a property management team to handle all your rental premises is a great idea. It leaves you time to do other more important things. Property management teams can do background checks and also check up on references. In many cases, they can communicate with other property management firms to ensure that the tenant will pay the required rent on time and is in general going to look after the premises. They can handle the bond lodgement, collect the rent and make sure the place is properly maintained through regular inspections of the rental property. They generally have maintenance professionals that they use on a regular basis, so you know your property is in good hands.