Neighbour and Water supply

em2481

Our neighbour used to own 2 acres which comprised a house and a converted barn. He split the property into two lots, moved into the barn and sold us the house and an acre of land. All services were supposed to have been split, and we each have a separate water meter from the street to each of our properties. However, we have recently found that the water supply feed between the house (ours) and the barn (his) was never disconnected and is now connected to the neighbours outside tap on his property. He has been using this supply quite a bit. We were able to prove this yesterday by watching our water meter spin round when he used a commercial powerwasher on his property. When we talk to the neighbour, he first got angry and denied all knowledge but then pulled the pipe from the tap and isolated it, saying he knew it wasn't his water but he didn't know where it came from. His solution is to cap it and put a slab on top. Clearly, we can't have a live pipe running under his driveway (especially as he is planning on blockpaving around his property). I would think this would need excavating and capping professionally on our property as we are responsible for and would need access to our pipe. We were assured that all services were split when we bought the property. Please advise on this and who would be liable for associated costs? Thanks in advance

Annie1960

Go back to the solicitor you used for the purchase.