under floor water pipe leak

salduck

Hiya,
Quickie if i have bveen told by the water board that there is a leak in a pipe under my kitchen and i need to take the kitchen out to let them dig up all y kitchen and fix it who is responssible for the cost of this??
Friday 13th dont ya know!! LUcky me!!
Its a leasehold that i pay £4 a year to the leaseholder but i have a funny feeling i am responsible for the cost??
Anyone any the wiser!>?
thanks in advance
Sal

real1314

Yep, it's yours to pay. You might be covered under buildings insurance -worth checking.

Sonofa

Yep, I agree with the last poster. Leasehold, freehold has no bearing. Beyond the stop tap, usually in the street outside your property, is your problem. Check your buildings insurance as you are probably covered.

I had a similar problem a couple years ago. Our drain into the main sewer collapsed and we had to get it put right (Environmental Health served notice on us as it backing up, sewage started coming up in neighbour's garden, unknown to us). The drain actually collapsed under the road outside our property (old 1900's) but because it only served our house it was our problem (I believe that if it serves more than one property and was built prior to 1920ish the local water board adopt it), despite the fact that the only factor that would have caused the collapse would likely have been the HGV's passing over it down the busy main road for all those years.

Our buildings cover paid for the work, which was fortunate considering the work involved; big hole in the road, traffic lights for a week, etc would have cost thousands.

clutton_2

you are responsible - its a pipe on your property - if the water board are giving you an estimate of the cost to repair the pipe - why not get another quote from a plumber who may not be as expensive

Gorgeous_George

Insurance usually covers damage caused by the leaking water but not the cost of fixing the problem.

A local plumber should be better value than the water board. It may even be cheaper to lay a new pipe by a different route.

GG

salduck

Thanks everyone for your answers- The water board are sssaying they will repair the leak free if i can give them access to it which by that they mean take out my kitchen and dig up the floor- So kind!! lol
Thanks anyway was worth a shot of wishful thinking that I would not have to pay :@)
Thanks again
Sal
x

Ms_Scrooge

We had a mains leak nearly 30 months ago and are in the final stages of the claim! Check whether your insurance covers you for 'trace and repair' some do and some don't, ours did but at first they said it didn't!! The cost of removing the kitchen floor and units, drying and refitting /replacing everything will be - unpleasant, as will be the upheaval! As an alternative solution is it possible to bypass the leaking pipe and put another feed into the kitchen somewhere..it maybe a cheaper alternative.

salduck

Still waiting on the waterboard to get back to me!! Will update when I know more!!
Thanks
x

SplanK

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

It may even be cheaper to lay a new pipe by a different route.

GG

I was just thinking that myself - instead of having hte kitchen ripped up and having to go under the house (do you have a crawl space with floorboards or is it just a solid base??) - it might be easier, quicker, cheaper and less distuptive to have the pipe run around a different route - IE around the side of the house to the back if possible?

salduck

Hola!
Ok so i had a call from the water board and they have said i just need to take out 2 of my units and they are going to replace the pipe free!! Hallelujah!
So no ripping up of kitchen and as you clever souls suggested they are going to attach a new pipe!!
Thanks
Sal