Shared Water supply pipe - any advice ?

Gecco

Gecco

Gecco

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Water supplier advised of a leak on our shared water supply pipe.

Our home insurance contracted a local company that came out to detect the leak and advised it is the external stopcock on our drive.
They stated they could excavate, fix and make good there and then to witch we agreed.
Once they dug the hole however they found the leak not to be on our section of the pipe but past the T section about a foot on the pipe leading to our neighbours - as illustrated in the attached Pic "Leak B"

We are House 3 and our pipe is good, however the T pipe feeding House 1 and 2 is leaking on within our boundary.



They couldn't temporary fix it so just left a hole on our drive with constant water squirting out.
It has been left like this for a week and we finally had an email from them stating the home insurance wont cover the cost but they could come back and fix it for £1K.

Doesn't seem right to me

The water supply company just advised the contractor has to fix it and backfill and invoice the neighbouring properties.

Where do I stand on this on a legal basis and how should I proceed ? Currently left with a big hole on my drive with water leaking everywhere.
 
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Whilst you work it out, can you make a temporary fix to the leak? I believe that winding some (special) tapes around pipes can stop leaks.

Have you spoken to your neighbours about this?

My understanding is that the water supply company is usually responsible up to the outside stopcock of a property, but if all the houses share one main outside stopcock, and then each house has its own outside stopcock, then maybe it will come down to legal agreements from the property deeds as to who pays for fixes after the main outside stopcock.
 
www.ofwat.gov.uk

Responsibility for pipes and pumping stations - Ofwat

Water companies keep up to date maps of sewers and water mains for which they are responsible.
www.ofwat.gov.uk www.ofwat.gov.uk

"Type of pipe: Shared supply pipe serving more than one property
Laid under: Land owned by any of the property owners served by the pipe/Land owned by someone else
Responsibility for pipe: responsibility of all property owners served by pipe"

Assuming I've read your post correctly, and it's after your branch of the T, then essentially it's the responsibility of 1 and 2 (regardless of it being within your boundary - Likely your deeds will specify that you have to allow access to shared pipeage etc)
 
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Yeah i read it as it is your neighbours' responsibility to fix and at their cost but easier said than done. Doea your insurance company cober legal advice at least? And can they claim on their insurance companies, if you ask them to check.
 
Yes its their 100% the neighbours responsibility - but discovered AFTER they started digging as the contractor initially stated the leak was on our stopcock just before the T off to the neighbours pipe.

Trouble is I spoke to my immediate neighbour - they don't want to know, the next 2 in line are council owned (God knows if/when I get a reply) and the last property I haven't spoken to yet.

Still leaves me with an open hole and the water leaking.
 
Gecco said:
they don't want to know
Click to expand...

They'll want to know when the leak gets bad enough that they don't get any water.

How big is the hole, how bad is the leak and what was the surface on it?

The water company should demand the leak be fixed and can issue an enforcement to the relevant properties to do so. Which water company is it?

As you said it's not your responsibility so you could just fill in the hole and wait for the water company to enforce on the relevant properties. I would escalate with the water company to get them to intervene properly and issue a defective fittings notice to the relevant houses.
 
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Gecco said:
Water supplier advised of a leak on our shared water supply pipe.

Our home insurance contracted a local company that came out to detect the leak and advised it is the external stopcock on our drive.
They stated they could excavate, fix and make good there and then to witch we agreed.
Once they dug the hole however they found the leak not to be on our section of the pipe but past the T section about a foot on the pipe leading to our neighbours - as illustrated in the attached Pic "Leak B"

We are House 3 and our pipe is good, however the T pipe feeding House 1 and 2 is leaking on within our boundary.



They couldn't temporary fix it so just left a hole on our drive with constant water squirting out.
It has been left like this for a week and we finally had an email from them stating the home insurance wont cover the cost but they could come back and fix it for £1K.

Doesn't seem right to me

The water supply company just advised the contractor has to fix it and backfill and invoice the neighbouring properties.

Where do I stand on this on a legal basis and how should I proceed ? Currently left with a big hole on my drive with water leaking everywhere.
Click to expand...

Where are the meters? Even if the pipe is on your property you are not usually responsible for any leaks beyond your meter.
It's a bit late now but it's also good to discuss this with the repair company first. Any house downstream from the leak (or upstream from a blockage) shares the cost.
 
danlightbulb said:
How big is the hole, how bad is the leak and what was the surface on it?
Which water company is it?
Click to expand...
Its the size of a pea, really shoots out when the pressure is fully on. The contractors that dug it up only deal with pipes up to 40mm... and tried to bodge/temp fix it but that blew apart as soon as they turned the pressure back on. The pipe is an old 50+mm supply pipe that feeds another 4 houses after mine.
The pipe T'd off going to my property is 25mm

Water supply is with Essex and Suffolk water



Pic shows the leak when the water pressure is turned off, the pipe going right to our house is covered with mud but you can see the stopcock sticking out.
 
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When I had an issue like this, we used a specialist plumber that replaced the whole lot with a blue poly pipe - from the water meter into the house. Trying to repair a small section is virtually a waste of time, as it's all likely rotten.
 
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Gecco said:
Its the size of a pea, really shoots out when the pressure is fully on. The contractors that dug it up only deal with pipes up to 40mm... and tried to bodge/temp fix it but that blew apart as soon as they turned the pressure back on. The pipe is an old 50+mm supply pipe that feeds another 4 houses after mine.
The pipe T'd off going to my property is 25mm

Water supply is with Essex and Suffolk water



Pic shows the leak when the water pressure is turned off, the pipe going right to our house is covered with mud but you can see the stopcock sticking out.
Click to expand...

Ok, i really don't think the water company will not do anything if you press the issue. I would keep on at them and escalate.
 
I'd go back to the contractor. Its their mistake they need to rectify. Or tell them you'll pay someone else to put right and invoice them. if they dont pay its small claims court and I'd argue the judge would see it your way.

A professional dug up the wrong driveway and wont make right!!
You could start by asking for the companies insurance details. That may get them moving
 
You don't say what water authority your under, but we had a letter 10yrs+ ago that stated our water charges were going up and they (Severn Trent & Yorkshire Water) were going to take responsibility for all shared water mains and shared drains.

It might be worth checking with your water authority what they are legally responsible for.
 
mattyg said:
I'd go back to the contractor. Its their mistake they need to rectify. Or tell them you'll pay someone else to put right and invoice them. if they dont pay its small claims court and I'd argue the judge would see it your way.

A professional dug up the wrong driveway and wont make right!!
You could start by asking for the companies insurance details. That may get them moving
Click to expand...
Logically to me this makes sense, you can't just **** something up and then go "sorry guv not our problem". Whether the law sees it that way or not is probably another matter.
 
mattyg said:
A professional dug up the wrong driveway and wont make right!!
Click to expand...

I don't think they did much wrong. They dug up the correct place (they found the leak didn't they), but the specifics of the ownership of the supply pipe in this case is complicated.

It's a pretty big leak, the water company shouldn't want to let it go unrepaired and can enforce if necessary. OP just needs to get to the right people I think and things will move then.
 
mattyg said:
I'd go back to the contractor. Its their mistake they need to rectify. Or tell them you'll pay someone else to put right and invoice them. if they dont pay its small claims court and I'd argue the judge would see it your way.

A professional dug up the wrong driveway and wont make right!!
You could start by asking for the companies insurance details. That may get them moving
Click to expand...

They didn’t dig up the wrong drive way the leak is on the OPs land but the affected section is for the neighbours water supply.

The OPs home insurance then refused to cover the cost of the repair due to it not being for their property. They have quoted 1k for the repair which someone is going to have to pay.

It is a messy one, I’d try and contact the council for their properties they may have a repair team that would repair this. The tenants will have a number for any issues with the property.
 
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