Blocked Drain caused by next door

anotherbaldrick

jonomassey wrote: »

Yes the drain is on his property but very close to the back wall of his house. He did say i can have access to repair the drain but he wasn't going to contribute in getting it fixed. So what your saying is that the drain is my responsibilty as its between my property and his even though the damage is on his land?

Hi jonomassey. I am afraid that in law as the drain only serves your house being the top of the drain run it is your private drain and your responsibility (Pre 1937 Public Heath Act) It is not until it joins with the next property, presumably at the manhole you refer to that it becomes a "Public Sewer" and then responsibility is with the water co.
sorry.
Probably better to get a builder in to do a quick repair rather than spend money on surveys !

anotherbaldrick

bryanb wrote: »

See post #7

Post 7 is incorrect . The water co are only responsible for those pipes serving two or more properties (Sewers)

macman

It's not clear to me how many properties are served by this drain. Is is only the OP's drain but just happens to run across next door's land? Or is it a shared drain, in which case the water co are responsible?
If the former, the neighbour cannot be asked to contribute to the repair unless he has caused the damage to it in the first place.
If it's not shared, how can the neighbour have blocked it-he must be downstream. If the neighbour is upstream, the blockage will not affect the OP anyway.

Cardew

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Post 7 is incorrect . The water co are only responsible for those pipes serving two or more properties (Sewers)

Totally agree about two or more properties(all pre 1935); but why is post 7 wrong?

As I read the OP's initial post, the problem occurs under his neighbour's land(which would indicate two properties at least).

The sewer also serves his neighbour(he went round and rodded back toward his own house) and would appear to be a blockage downstream in the sewer, under his neighbour's property but before the point where his neighbour's drain entered the sewer.

Poosmate

If the OP is upstream of his neighbour and he is the last household on the run of sewers, he is responsible for any pipes from his property up to the point where another property connects to the drain (at which point it becomes a sewer). So that means his own line of drainage pipes from the house to the manhole in his garden and beyond up to the manhole in his next door neighbour's garden regardless of how far onto the property of his neighbour that drainage pipe is. It doesn't matter who owns the land above, it's the drainage below that he's responsible for. If the drain was blocked by chicken carcasses and nappies then they could only have come from his property as his is the only one served by that drain.

If the OP is downstream of his neighbour and the blockage was before his manhole, he wouldn't be responsible for fixing the problem and his property wouldn't be backing up (it would be backing up at his neighbour's and beyond). If that was the case, then all of the neighbours who are served by that sewer (private sewer) would be responsible for it's repair as it would be difficult to prove who's flushings had actually caused the blockage.

In this case, as the properties were built pre Oct 1936, his neighbours are covered by the fact that the water companies are responsible because the sewer serves more than one property. Hence tha Acts mentioned above come into force.

Hope that helps

Poo (rather apt name for this problem! lol)

jonomassey

Hi, the drain serves 4 houses before it goes onto the street to join the main sewer for the road. My property is a end terrace house and the drain starts at my property, which then goes to next doors property and then to the next 2 houses. The damage to the drain is in the same place as a concreted area on my neighbours property. It appears it may have happended before and has already been dug up and re-concreted. I've lived in the property for 6 years and my neighbour 8 years and this work must have been done before then.

I'll telephone severn trent in the morning to see what they say, its worth a try. I've had a quote from a builder for £200 to dig it out, repair the drain and reconcrete it. Next door has now offered to go 50/50 when I said the drain may cause subsidence on his property.

macman

But if it's a shared drain and built pre-1937 then there can be no dispute about upkeep/repair-it's entirely ST responsibility. The fact that you are on the upstream end is not relevant-ST are responsible for the whole length.
If ST deny it then refer them to the relevant statute.

jonomassey

Thanks Macman, will take it up with them first thing.

jonomassey

Update, have contacted severn trent and they have informed me that as my property is the first one on the drain its not classed as a sewer until it hits next doors manhole. Therefore they are not responsible for it no matter when the property was built. The guy I spoke to even admitted it was a stupid rule and he has the same issue on his house where he is responsible for his drain!! Never mind, at least i know now that I'm responsible and can get it fixed quickly.