Water leak in rented house

Ultrasonic

When I got home tonight I found a note from my water supplier saying they read my meter and suspect there is a leak because of how large the usage is. They are right . Over the last six months, the volume of water used is getting on for 5 times what is usually is (192 m^3 rather than 43 m^3). There have been no reasons to expect any big change, and with all of the taps etc off in the house the little wheel on the meter is spinning round merrily. I'll check exactly what rate water is leaking when it's light tomorrow.

I have two quick questions I’d be grateful of answers to. (I suspect I won’t like the answers but thought I’d check where I stand.)

1) Will the water company charge for the excess water that has been lost?

2) I live in a rented property. If the water company do charge for the excess water, will I be liable, or my landlord?

Thanks.

[I'm pretty annoyed with myself for not having spotted this sooner. I check my gas and electricty meters every month or so, but stupidly haven't done the same with my water meter.]

dogshome

From your figures it appears that this leak is running at roughly 0.8m3 a day and you have been fortunate that you had a Meter reader prepared to go the extra mile

If you have a low level toilet where the overflow goes into the pan, check it now and report any leak to the landlord, if it's OK get onto the Water Co and report a leak a.s. a. p.

The Water Co will come out and fix the leak, but wether or not they charge for it is not your problem, it's the landlords.

As to the water loss, I'm afraid that's down to you, but you can negotiate the bill as the lost water has been absorbed by the ground and not gone into the sewage system - The cost per m3 of waste water is higher than the cost of an m3 of fresh water.

deano4930

When a leak is outside on the supply pipe from the meter then usually (Providing it is not under a permanent structure eg, extension, garage)then we would be able to fix it and then give the customer an allowance for the extra usage. This is certainly the policy with United Utilities anyway

Ultrasonic

dogshome wrote: »

From your figures it appears that this leak is running at roughly 0.8m3 a day and you have been fortunate that you had a Meter reader prepared to go the extra mile

Thanks for your comments. I'm definitely grateful that the meter reader let me know straight away. It was a pre-printed Anglian Water card that was put through the door that had a tick box for something like 'we think you might have a leak', so I guess this is something they are helpfully encouraged to do.

I checked this morning with all taps etc off and water appears to be leaking at about 39 L/hour (0.94 m^3 per day). Thanks for the toilet suggestion, I hadn't thought of that but I checked and the water level is about 1 cm below the overflow level. In order to read my meter (in the street in front of my house) I had to bail a load of water out of the hole with a mug. The hole completely refilled with water over the next hour that I left it as a test, so I guess that might indicate that the leak is outside the house?

Anyway, Anglian Water (my supplier) will be sending someone round to investigate on Friday morning. I'll try and get the leak sorted and then start asking about what I might have to pay for the water that leaked away, but I'm encouraged that I might not have to pay the full cost (an extra £300 by a rough calculation).

mart.vader

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Thanks for your comments. I'm definitely grateful that the meter reader let me know straight away. It was a pre-printed Anglian Water card that was put through the door that had a tick box for something like 'we think you might have a leak', so I guess this is something they are helpfully encouraged to do.

I checked this morning with all taps etc off and water appears to be leaking at about 39 L/hour (0.94 m^3 per day). Thanks for the toilet suggestion, I hadn't thought of that but I checked and the water level is about 1 cm below the overflow level. In order to read my meter (in the street in front of my house) I had to bail a load of water out of the hole with a mug. The hole completely refilled with water over the next hour that I left it as a test, so I guess that might indicate that the leak is outside the house?

Anyway, Anglian Water (my supplier) will be sending someone round to investigate on Friday morning. I'll try and get the leak sorted and then start asking about what I might have to pay for the water that leaked away, but I'm encouraged that I might not have to pay the full cost (an extra £300 by a rough calculation).

If the leak is after the meter, but still under the footway, i.e. NOT on your property. (this is a possibility as you say the "hole" or the "meter pod", is refilling with water) If so, this is the Water Co's responsibility and you will not have to pay anything for it - they will sort the leak and they should refund the costs of any increased usage to you.