Soakaway Insurance

hammer265

After living in our house for 12 years we have just found out that all our standing water and 17 other houses go into a soak away. This soak away is very large tank underground about 8 meters deep by 2,5 across we have checked with the council, water board and Belway Homes who build the houses and all say that it is a private soak away and is everyone's responsibility. If something was to go wrong with it I image that the cost could be quite large I know house insurance won't cover it for insurance but is there any companies that would insure it. The only good news is that we all can now claim back our standing water charges but only for the past 6 years

InsideInsurance

I worked for the water authority in Scotland years ago and when people sold their property they often needed a certificate confirming if they were on mains water and/ or sewerage or not. After paying us for both for decades they were always shocked that the only way we could issue the certificate was by sending an engineer to check.

Most the piping was victorian or older and very few maps existed. It wasnt that uncommon for it to be found they werent which tended to result in an angry phone call but we would immediately any payments we had received and instructed the council to refund anything paid via rates/council tax etc without applying a 6 year cap.

Thats an aside but anyway, you can insurer anything you want as long as its not illegal but if it is cost effective to do so is another question and that will in part depend on if there are existing products that cover this or if you are looking for something fairly bespoke.

It would be worth first of all finding out who the legal owner of it is, (who's land is it under?) and confirming that it is your legal responsibility to deal with it. Your contract/ deeds should clarify this sort of thing.

Assuming it does state you have a responsibility for it then speak to a local broker, not Swintons, and they will be able to get prices.

You may also want to consider how the different owners will come together to agree/ disagree on these sorts of things. ie what happens if 11 of you want insurance but the 12th doesnt or if after getting insurance and developing a minor problem that 8 think a claim is worth it but the other 4 dont etc

vaio

Also, think what a soakaway actually does and what could go wrong with it.

The biggest likely problem is they silt up over time but that's a maintenance issue so likely not covered by insurance anyway and the pipework going to it will probably be covered by normal buildings insurance