water pipe under extension

southcoastrgi

Very good advice from DG above, the water co can & will stop your build if they find out, which could cost you a whole heap of money, is it really worth the risk ?

andrewf75

Doozergirl wrote: »

A shared water supply does not need a build over agreement because it is your pipe to damage as you wish The join to the mains will not be under your extension but clearly, you need to tell the builder to look for them if they are there.

Great, thanks.

A public sewer is not just a mains sewer, it is also any pipe where waste from more than one house flows before it reaches the main sewer. So if your neighbours waste (either rainwater or the brown stuff) joins to your manhole and then it all flows off somehow to the big one, that is a sewer that needs a buildover agreement.

Our manhole is located about 2m to the side of our existing extension (which we're replacing) and the flow is from our house diagonally out across next doors garden. There is no channel from next doors house visibly flowing into our manhole so does it still need an agreement? It will no doubt join up with next doors somewhere along the line but at the point of our manhole it seems to only serve our property.

Thanks for your excellent advice as always doozergirl.

Doozergirl

My pleasure

So, if you are the first house on the run or if your drain flows only directly between your house and the mains sewer, those are solely your responsibility. They only become the responsibility of the water company as soon as the pipe leaves your land and crosses your boundary. As soon as it goes under the neighbouring fence, it becomes a lateral drain and the responsibility of Thames Water.

Drains your responsibility on your land = no build over agreement needed

Good news for now. In the long run, the transferred responsibilty to the water company is a nice thing for people like your neighbours. They don't have to pay for problems that could be caused have been caused by someone else. But they will have to ask to build over them.

andrewf75

Thanks again. Looks like we might be OK on that drain then...just need to check if there is anything from the neighbours the other side crossing our land within 3m of our build. Hopefully not!