Ivana Amorim

Federal Law No. 13,312, published last July 12, states that new condominiums must install individual water meters in order to segregate consumption per real estate unit and common areas. The installation of individual water meters will be mandatory from 2021 and, therefore, does not affect those developments already existing or under construction.

The individual water meters in condominiums is already a reality in Rio de Janeiro since 2011, due to the municipal law that made them mandatory. Like in Rio, the installation of individual water meters is a requirement for the licensing of real estate developments in the main cities in Brazil and, in five years, it is expected that this will become a reality throughout the country.

In addition to enabling the proportional payment of the actual water consumed by the unit owner and the condominium itself, Federal Law No. 13,312 encourages conscious water consumption. Accordingly, the new law expressly states that installing individual water meters should be just one of the measures adopted by condominiums in order to create environmental sustainability standards.