This is getting me stressed.

We have a shared water main that comes up behind four terraced houses from the road and feeds in to the kitchen.

Several years ago the two middle houses opted off and connected directly to the road main. We’re at the end of the run so furthest from the road.

Neighbours (nice folk) in the middle are having an extension built and in the process they’ve found a leaky pipe. I think their builders broke it when digging as the soil around it didn’t look like it had been leaking for long. I’d also been round to view progress and it was never mentioned at that visit.

The pipe is what you’d expect an iron 1″ pipe to look like after 90 years in the ground and as its so old I’m not sure if any repair will hold and my neighbour doesn’t want an iffy repair under his new extension.

Second option is to rerun the pipe further round the gardens (permission granted from other neighbours) and reconnect – his builders will do. (approx £1.5-2k)

Third option is to connect to mains from road. Again, very disruptive and expensive but also has 3 month lead time which neighbour doens’t want. (approx £4k)

The builder will pay to repair the pipe only, but neighbour doesn’t want that for reasons above.

I’m responsible for my section of the pipe and potentially the middle two as well since they don’t use it, but I didn’t cause the damage.

I feel that as a result of their extension I’m being forced into some expensive waterworks which weren’t needed prior to the build.

Any advice appreciated on who pays what and where I stand …

Cheers

between your neighbour and his builder, i want to see the damage made good, promptly with minimum inconvenience and zero cost.

if he/they want to take a more lengthy and expensive route thats fine but i will expect agreed compensation to cover aggrevation/disruption and any increased water bill in the mean time.

4 grand to get a new supply installed? Jeez that sounds a lot. We had ours done a couple of years ago (was previously shared with next door) and it only cost about £800.

Check with your local water provider as if the supply is lead piping from the mains to your house they should replace the section from the road to your boundary free of charge (or certainly used to) so you only have to provide a pipe from your stopcock to the boundary.

The guys we got to do ours used a mole borer rather than digging a big trench and they were very quick & efficient. The whole thing took about 6 weeks IIRC, most of which was spent waiting for United Utilities to come back and fill their hole in.

I’m pretty sure you’re only responsible for the supply up to your boundary as well, so anything else will then be someone else’s problem.

Say to him “Me no money mista, me bankrup'” and await his reply…

Or..point him to an empty spot on against your garage wall, and see if he’ll go halves on a new bike to fill it…
We can predict the answer there…

DrP

yes they seem to have broken it hence why they will fix it -if th eneighbout wants to re route it in their garden then that is their choice and their cost problem.

I think you are responsible for the pipe while its on your land – or maybe just after the boundary, if the leak occured on yr neighbours land, then it is their problem.
maybe speak to them regarding the builders third party insurance- if they and you think the builders did it, or the neighbours house insurance.

sound like the planning of the extension did not consider buried services, – not your issue really, the neighbour should take it on the chin as emerging costs- I would press them to your option 2 if the insurance don’t wanna play( they will only want to repair – not move the pipe!) as for 1.5k to bury a length of alkathene pipe in gardens – must be a loooong run and/or include lots of groundworks!

As already mentioned definitely not your problem as far as I can see. It might be worth phoning your local planning department and asking to speak to the duty planning officer who will give you an official view.

Apparently its £1.5-2 as it involves a road closure. then theres the cost of running full length of house, tiled pathway, tiled kitchen, general old house routing and making good.

I’m pretty sure you’re only responsible for the supply up to your boundary as well, so anything else will then be someone else’s problem.

This is the issue. The shared pipe starts at the boundary and crosses the four gardens.

If I say fix pipe yourself and theres a problem down the line I could liable so something better is needed, but as mentioned, this was all fine before they started so I really don’t want to have to pay for something that was out of my control.

I think you are responsible for the pipe while its on your land – or maybe just after the boundary, if the leak occured on yr neighbours land, then it is their problem.

This was the case when everyone used it but I’m at the end and the two in the middle don’t need it any more – are they still responsible ?

why should you pay? you broke nothing, he fudged it up.

tell him to jog on.

If he wants it moving from under his new extension then that’s his problem and an unfortunate (for him) extra expense but he should have a contingency.

If he doesnt want to pay then he has no choice but to let the builder fix it and live with the risk.

Absolutely no reason why you should be out of pocket.

Your neighbor is responsible for the supply pipe running through his property, he can route it any way he likes on his property so long as it’s still connected to the old run at your boundary in the same position, if he wants to spend the £1.5 – 2K that’s his issue and his cost, if he opts for the repair and it fails that’s between him and whoever repairs the pipe, not your concern aside from any interruption to your supply.

If your neighbor wishes to re-route the supply pipe for both his property and for some reason yours as well then he would have to pay for any works carried out on your section of the pipe, as the change has only been made necessary by his building work.

I’m responsible for my section of the pipe and potentially the middle two as well since they don’t use it, but I didn’t cause the damage.

Are you sure?
It’s a still a section of supply pipe on their property, I’d have thought that although it may no longer be connected to their properties, it crosses their land so they are responsible for not disrupting the supply to properties further up the line.
If the section on their land is damaged or leaking it is their responsibility to repair or replace it and ensure the supply to the next property in line is maintained.

Neighborly relations can become tricky when stuff like this comes up, but you shouldn’t be asked to pay for repair or rerouting works which are in no way caused by your actions, be clear about what you expect, that your neighbors maintain the water supply as it crosses their property, as you would do for any service to them which crosses yours.

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/consumerissues/rightsresponsibilities/supplypipes/

Seems to imply that if you have a supply pipe which crosses someone’s property who doesn’t share that pipe then it’s your responsibility.

The builders repair it at their cost, if your neighbour isn’t happy with that, then that’s between your neighbour and the builder.

The words ‘PROBLEM’, ‘NOT’, & ‘YOURS’ springs to mind.

As a suggestion, your neighbour could always get the repair checked over by a third-party. 💡

Any help?

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16194

Thanks for advice.

Made some progress chatting with neighbours and they’re understanding.

Its still complicated though !

How sure are you the damage was caused by them – and can you prove it.
I would spend a bit more time bottoming this out first.
Just because you find damage doesn’t automaticaly mean you caused it (although it does seem likely)

More facts needed.

Hold your ground, they broke it, they fix it.

I have an old water pipe that we don’t use running under our garden. It leaked recently and because it was on our property it was our responsibility. Luckily the water company was nice and sorted it for free.

It will be the same with your neighbours. Even if they don’t use it, it’s their responsibility.

Whatever you agree informally between you and your neighbours could well go to rat shit if a problem arises in the future. Looking at the link allthepies provided would suggest that you will be responsible for the pipe if your neighbours no longer use it.

You have said they don’t want a repaired pipe under their new extension so they should re-route. However, if that breaks or the pipe in the next neighbour breaks, you could be liable for the damage. Check your deeds, check with the water company and then you know the reality. After that its just a gamble – do you route directly to the main and remove a lot of risk (at a cost) or do you just leave it with your neighbour re-routing the pipes under their property and linking back up to your boundary. I’d do the latter as in my mind the risk is low.

worth speaking to waterboard – similar a few years ago at my mums and water board bored a new one under house for free – similar different waterboard at our last house plumber broke the external stop tap – waterbaord replaced pipe for free whilst replacing stop tap – legally your responsibility but were schemes around to reduce leakage and the dumb sort of problems you’ve got