Responsibility for outside leak

Raspberry_Swirl

About a month ago we lost water pressure for a few hours and when it came back on it was faster than usual. This is the case for all the houses in our row. About 2-3 days after this we noticed that our front lawn was boggy and suspected a leak.

I found an emergency number for the water board and rung it. They came out the next day and confirmed the leak, sprayed a metre square box on our lawn where they suspected the leak would be and then said they would be back in up to 14 days to dig. If they found the leak in the square they drew they would fix it, if not it would be my responsibility. That sounds weird!!

Update: I have just rung my local water company, South East Water, as no one ever appeared and my front garden is now a pond and they say that no call was logged originally and that they'll send someone out but it will probably be my responsibility to get it sorted as it's on my land.

I understand that it's on my land but the leak started because of their water pressure issue. Leaks sprung up in a few places in my local area after the pressure issue. Also, if I do have to get it sorted, will it just be my excess that I have to pay on my insurance as i know things like floods and stuff are a higher excess, but the leak isn't that bad...yet!!

Thanks for reading!

rachbc

I doubt insurance will pay fort he leak to be fixed- just for any damage caused by the leak.

Ebe_Scrooge

Usually the pipe from the mains stopcock into your house is your responsibility. The mains stopcock is often in the pavement outside your property or nearby. The waterboard is responsible for all the mains pipework up until the stopcock, after that it's down to you I'm afraid.

You *may* have a case if you can prove that the increase in pressure damaged your pipes, but I'm not sure how successful you'd be - they'd probably say that the pipework / joints must have been too weak and were on their way out anyway.

Probably best to give your insurance company a call, see what they suggest. I doubt it will be classed as flood damage, but they may cover you for the leak - some do, some don't.

Finally, if you do end up having to pay for it, don't just let the waterboard do it and charge you. Ring around a few local plumbers, they'll probably be a lot cheaper. I had the same situation a few years ago ( leaking pipe ), and ended up doing it myself. Blooming hard work digging the trench, but the actual replacement of the pipe is pretty simple if you're at all DIY-minded.

ormus

digging the trench is certainly the hard part.
i got a building site labourer called paddy, to do my last trench.
best 50 quid ever spent. he was quicker than a JCB.

Raspberry_Swirl

Thanks for the info guys! I've just checked my insuance policy online and it says:

Section 3
Underground services

We will pay for the cost of repairing
underground service pipes, cables and
septic tanks providing services to and
from your home, which you are legally
responsible for and which break
accidentally.

So hopefully I'm covered

Raspberry_Swirl

rung the water peeps again last night and she said they did come out the other day to assess the leak and that they offer a free leak repair but can't give me any estimate on when they might do it.

So much for the wastage of water act they keep quoting on their leaflets!!