Can my landlord refuse to let me put a portable water tank in the garden?

Technically, most leases cover structural alterations rather than freestanding equipment, so a tank sitting on the ground and connecting to nothing permanent is generally permissible. However, your lease may have broader clauses, and the safe approach is always to ask in writing first. If the landlord refuses, smaller indoor options like countertop filters and collapsible bladder tanks remain available to you.

How much water should I store as a renter in Johannesburg?

South Africans use around 237 litres per person per day on average, so a two-person household needs roughly 500 litres for a one-day buffer and 1,000 litres for two days. As a renter, a 1,000-litre freestanding tank is a practical and manageable starting point that fits most rental gardens. For a family, you would want to scale up — read the breakdown of household water use to size things properly before buying.

Is stored tank water safe to drink?

Water stored in a clean, food-grade polyethylene or IBC tank is generally safe for washing and flushing. For drinking and cooking, add a gravity ceramic filter or UV purifier — these require no plumbing and produce output that meets SANS 241 (2024), the South African drinking-water quality standard. Change filter media according to the manufacturer's schedule and keep the tank covered to prevent algae and contamination.

What happens to my portable tank setup when I move?

Everything described here — freestanding tanks, IBCs, collapsible bladders, transfer pumps, and countertop filters — is fully portable and moves with you. That is their main advantage over plumbed-in systems. Drain the tank before moving, clean it, and it is ready to reinstall at your next property.

My landlord is willing to install a proper backup system — what does that involve?

A landlord-approved plumbed-in tank-and-pump system typically runs R20,000–R40,000 for a standard setup, or around R55,000 for a whole-house solution — all installed figures, but confirm via quotes. You would need to agree in writing who owns the equipment and what happens at lease end. If your lease is long enough to make the investment worthwhile, this is significantly more capable than any portable option.

Backup Water for Renters: Portable Options

If you rent in Johannesburg, water disruptions hit you differently. You cannot drill a borehole, plumb in a tank, or alter the property without your landlord’s written consent — and most landlords will say no to anything structural. That does not mean you are stuck. There is a practical range of portable, removable backup water options that require no permanent work, comply with most standard lease agreements, and can be taken with you when you move.

This article covers the realistic options, their costs, their limits, and what to check in your lease before buying anything.

Why Renters Need a Backup Plan Too

Johannesburg’s water infrastructure is under genuine pressure. Johannesburg Water’s own audited figures show non-revenue water — water lost to leaks and theft before it reaches a tap — running at 44.8% for 2024/25. The city’s reservoir system holds roughly 27 hours of citywide storage buffer. When a pump station fails or a main bursts, that buffer runs down quickly in affected areas, and renters have no private storage to fall back on.

Add to that the fact that South Africans use around 237 litres of water per person per day on average — well above the global average of roughly 173 litres — and you can see how fast even a 24-hour outage disrupts a household. If you want to understand what your specific household actually consumes, this breakdown of how much water a family uses is a useful starting point before you size any backup solution.

What Your Lease Probably Says (and What to Ask)

Most standard South African residential leases prohibit structural alterations without written consent. Connecting a tank to downpipes, cutting into plumbing, or fixing brackets to walls typically counts as an alteration. However, freestanding, portable equipment that does not modify the property is usually fine — but do not assume; check.

Before buying anything, do three things:

Read the alteration clause in your lease carefully.
Send your landlord or managing agent a written message describing exactly what you plan to install.
Get written confirmation back.

This protects your deposit and avoids a dispute at move-out. Some landlords will actually encourage tenants to add backup water capacity, because it reduces their own risk of property damage from people running dry.

Portable and Freestanding Tank Options

The simplest backup option is a freestanding polyethylene tank — the kind that sits on the ground, connects to nothing permanent, and fills from a garden tap or hosepipe while municipal water is on. Sizes range from around 200 litres up to 2,500 litres or more.

For a single person or couple, a 500–1,000 litre tank is a reasonable starting point. For a family, 2,000 litres is closer to a one-to-two day supply at typical usage. Costs for the tank alone are, as a rough guide, typically R1,500–R8,000 depending on size — confirm current pricing with suppliers.

The practical limitations:

You need somewhere to put the tank. Space on a rental property is often tight. Guidance on where to position a tank on a small property applies whether you rent or own, and is worth reading before you buy a size that will not fit.
Without a pump, you are relying on gravity, which means the tank needs to be elevated or you use a bucket. A small 12V or battery-powered transfer pump — typically R800–R2,500 as a rough guide — solves this and is fully portable.
The tank fills only when municipal water is on, so you are capturing surplus, not harvesting rainwater (which would require downpipe connection).

Collapsible and Intermediate Bulk Container Options

If space is very limited, collapsible tanks (sometimes called bladder tanks or pillow tanks) can store 200–1,000 litres and fold flat when not in use. They are lighter, cheaper, and easier to move between properties. Quality varies significantly, so check UV resistance and food-grade certification before buying.

Another option seen in Johannesburg rental properties is a second-hand intermediate bulk container (IBC) — the 1,000-litre plastic cubes in steel frames originally used for industrial liquid transport. Food-grade IBCs are safe for water storage and typically cost R1,200–R3,000 second-hand as a rough guide. They are bulky but highly cost-effective per litre of storage.

Countertop and Point-of-Use Filtration

If your main concern is water quality rather than supply, countertop filtration units — gravity-fed ceramic or activated-carbon filters — require no plumbing and no power. You fill them from any source, including stored tank water, and they produce drinking-quality output.

SANS 241 (2024 edition) is the South African standard that defines what safe drinking water looks like. If you are storing water in a portable tank and then drinking it, a gravity filter or UV purifier is a sensible addition. These units typically run R500–R4,000 as a rough guide depending on type and throughput.

If you're renting now but considering buying — or your landlord is open to a shared system — get 3 free installer quotes — vetted suppliers, no obligation.

What Renters Cannot Easily Do

For context, the options that work well for homeowners — covered in detail on the backup water systems pillar page — are largely unavailable to renters without landlord cooperation:

Borehole systems require drilling and permanent infrastructure. Complete systems run R40,000–R150,000, with most falling between R60,000 and R100,000. Not a renter’s option without full landlord buy-in and a very long lease.
Plumbed-in tank-and-pump systems require connecting to the property’s pipework. Backup tank-and-pump systems typically cost R20,000–R40,000, and whole-house setups run around R55,000. Again, structural — landlord must agree in writing.
Rainwater harvesting via downpipe diverters technically counts as modifying the property in most interpretations.

Knowing what is off the table helps you focus your budget on what is genuinely available to you.

Practical Setup for a Rental Household

A realistic, removable backup setup for a Johannesburg renter might look like this:

Component	Rough cost guide	Notes
1,000-litre freestanding polyethylene tank	R3,000–R5,500	Confirm with suppliers
Small 12V transfer pump	R800–R2,000	Fully portable
Gravity ceramic filter for drinking water	R700–R2,000	No power needed
Total rough guide	R4,500–R9,500	All removable, moves with you

This is not a permanent solution, but it covers the most common scenario: a one-to-two day outage affecting cooking, flushing, and basic hygiene.

Own your home or planning to? A proper installed system changes the equation entirely — compare quotes from vetted backup water installers and see what the options cost in your area.

The Conversation Worth Having With Your Landlord

Some landlords are more flexible than a standard lease implies. A landlord who lives through the same outages you do may welcome a tenant who wants to install a plumbed-in tank, especially if the tenant covers the cost and the equipment is agreed to remain as a fixture. It is worth asking directly — a polite, specific written request costs nothing.

If your landlord agrees to a more permanent setup, get the terms in writing: who owns the equipment, what happens to it at lease end, and whether the work needs to be done by a specific contractor. Then the options that homeowners use — covered properly on the backup water systems page — become available to you too.

If the answer is no, a freestanding tank and a gravity filter are genuinely useful, genuinely portable, and genuinely yours to take when you leave.