Severn Trent Water Leak

L4rge

Hello, not sure if anyone could help but I am having a bit of bother with Severn Trent.

I moved into a new property in December 2009, all utility companies were contacted and I received bills from them all apart from Severn Trent until eventually one came through the door in November 2010, it was for £1550!!

I contacted them and they asked me to conduct flow tests ect and it seemed that their was either a leak or the meter was faulty, they advised they would get someone out to look at it for me, they eventually sent someone on 31 December 2010, he confirmed there was a problem and would report back to Severn Trent, 3 months went by and I received a Leakage Claim form in the March, I contacted them and asked what I do with this, they said have you fixed the leak, I advised I was not aware of a leak!!!

They then said they would send someone to look into for me, two chaps came out and dug up my front garden, confirmed the leak was not their liability and said I needed to get this fixed!

Leak all fixed now and bill still outstanding for £2259 for the water that has simply leaked below ground. They are still wanting to charge me for this and not offering a leakage allowance as the house was new. My contractors have admitted part liability for this but not all.........should they at least write some of the water bill off???

They are now trying to take me to court and I am at stage 2 of their complaints proceedure.

Anyone know what I can do or should I just pay it???

Thanks.

tomoney

Does the NHBC guarantee not cover this?

I cant see it is you that should suffer and if they acted quicker then the leak would have been spotted quicker

JTWWFC

Hi, I have exactly the same problem.

My bill is for £3800 - we moved into a brand new house and reported a suspected leak soon after due to a very high bill. Severn Trent visited the property but didn't confirm a leak. We assumed they had dealt with the issue, however 10 months later they sent us this huge bill. The builder has admitted liability for the leak, but won't settle the balance as they didn't know there was a leak.
Severn Trent have agreed to credit half, but i think they should credit it all (minus our normal useage) because they didn't communicate the location of the leak, or who's responsibility it was.
NHBC say they cannot get involved and STW aren't budging

How are you getting on since your last post? Thanks.

Cardew

Get the Consumer Council for Water involved

Gothicfairy

I think STW crediting half is more then fair, the leak was not their fault and the builder could have searched for the leak themselves when you told them there was a problem..........or did you not bother telling them ?

dontgetcaught

It is your responsibility to maintain your supply pipe from the boundary, new or otherwise, and as a property owner or renter it is your responsibility to know this.

For a bill of this size you must be on a meter, if you had read the meter you could establish your usage, you were in the house not the water company.

Severn Trent appear to have made a reasonable settlement of £2000 to JTWWFC, in what other situation would you expect a supplier to credit you.

The things left are:-
I think that you could look to your house insurer, but having been negligent in not trying to find the leak you may find they say go away.

Did you inform the builder? who fixed he leak? was the work done right in the first place? You can sue the builder?, but you must pay the water company they have done nothing wrong, this is a personal responsibly.