Liability for blocked sewer

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SimpleSimon

SimpleSimon

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Wondering if anybody has successfully reclaimed costs from their water company for unblocking a shared sewer?
I had to call dynorod yesterday as my manhole was full of sewerage and I had exhausted the entire length of a rod kit without clearing anything. The shared drains aren't on the map as they would have only been adopted by water company in 2011 so I had no way of knowing by distance if it was "my" drain or the communal one.
I called dyno rod who sorted it out at a cost of £145, he put his camera down afterwards and found that the blockage had been beyond the junction of the drains, i.e. not my responsibility.
I've made a polite casual enquiry with the water company, just wondered if anyone has had this and what outcome you got/did you have to put up a fight?
 
Was the blockage of the drain on your land?
If not did you notify the responsible authority and give them the opportunity to rectify the matter before calling out Dyno-rod?
 
Shared sewer and not a septic tank? How many share this sewer and surely they would be affected too? Any chance you could split the cost with neighbours? Did you inform water company of blockage first?

I share a septic tank with my neighbour, but it is in my garden! We share all costs involved...nothing like dealing with other people's s**t!!!
 
Blockage was between our property and the downstream neighbours so I was first in the queue and first to experience the mayhem! It wasn't possible to tell prior to getting it cleared whether it was in my private section or the shared one.

Anyway, Severn Trent have said they "may" pay up to £114 of the invoice as this is what they would have charged for a call to a private drain. I'm to forward the receipt to them when it arrives in the post.
 
SS...the law changed about five years or more plus ago. It USED to be that your sewer was your responsibility up until it joined the rest of the sewer system. At that point it was the responsibility of the water company. The law now is that your sewer is your responsibility ONLY to where it leaves your property. From that point on (even though it may not have yet connected to the rest of the sewer system, it is now the responsibility of AND OWNED BY the water company.

I am on a small laptop as I write so can't really search. But if you search on 'sewer ownership' it'll probably come up. The law change was done so that it was easier for the water company (as it has statutory powers of entry to land under which the sewer/sewers it owns lay) to access the land under which it passes. Whereas when you still owned it access if refused by that neighbouring landowner was difficult. I am not sure on reading your post if you sort of already knew that..or not?
 
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I'd contact the water company as they were made to take over respability for the sewer including on your land. The problem you've got is you never gave them the chance to clear it first so I would accept their offer.
 
There are a set of plans which indicate which sewers are 'public' and where these start - all these sewers are the responsibility of the relevant WA.
There is also usually a description of when a sewer changes from 'private' to 'public', based on the number of properties served upstream - the two dont always agree so check both.
Once a sewer is confirmed 'public' - you have no liability but should allow the WA to clear blockages first - that said in an emergency they have no choice but to accept a recharge.
 
I used to work for Severn Trent Water - speak to customer services on the helpline and then escalate from there to the Regional Manager and then a Director - they will help if they can, unless you have damaged the sewer through undertaking ground works or similar. Tell them its a health hazard and they will respond appropriately.
 
There you go, SS, four of the horrors just in time for Halloween. Now...venison dinosaurs from those otherwise burger bound offcuts...seriously why not...mmm? There's always room for a new product to promote the sale of game meat to a previously untapped market.

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enfieldspares said:
I am not sure on reading your post if you sort of already knew that..or not?
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks, you clarified what I already thought was the case. I know the point of the blockage was in "their" part of the sewer but didn't call them initially because I didn't know that at the time. So I've paid somebody to do Severn Trent's (literal) dirty work for them.
If they're willing to pay £114 towards it then I'll grudgingly accept that, as 375mag said I didn't technically offer them the chance to fix it before I called dyno rod.
 
You Jumped the gun Simon ,as Enfield said its your water company,s problem now.We had unmentionables coming back up the toilets from our shared drainage/sewer system .I phoned the 7 trent jobbers and they come out the next morning "priority".
1 team for the whole of Leicestershire ,but they camera the pipes and found the problem .Wet wipes yes those so called flushable botty cleaners and it didnt cost bean 1
They mentioned blah blah if its your pipes but 6 houses affected so no chance there.Hope they refund you but next time call the water board first mate atb
 
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