Water Company Stealing MY water, Help !

Eco_Child

Hi folks,

Desperate situation..

I'm hoping someone can advise....

I am living in Wales and own my own home
along with the borehole/well, which services the property in adjacent field

Back Sept- 2011 I received a letter from
a water company claiming that there were going
to be
~ CHANGES TO THE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR DRAINS AND SEWERS
They stated, " by law, the government has decided that the pipes that go beyond the boundary of the property called " Private sewers and Lateral drains " would be better looked after if they were part of the public sewer network...and the responsibility of your local water and sewerage company... "

They stated also, " ~ You Do Not Have To Do Anything
the transfer of ownership will happen,automatically. "

The letter looked very official along with an enclosed leaflet.
I wrote back to them stating, briefly,

" I am . NOT your customer and I do not give my consent for you to assume ownership. I, also, told them that I had sent a dated copy of my reply letter to a solicitor, for reference... "

The water company, promptly sent me a letter of apology and never bothered me again....

I am now faced with ,yet, another water company,
attempting to take over the ownership of my water..

However, unlike the other company they have official Local Council headed paper, they have, already sent me letters, three or four times, asking me to fill out a questionnaire for them...

I KNOW, they want to trick me into taking over my water supply, so they can make me PAY for my own water.... a farmer told me, this happened to him, and he has, henceforth had to pay for the water supply which is on his land, which, legally ~ Beongs to him, which he ~ Owns !

If these people take over my water supply, or sues me, I'm done for as my financial situation is, already, extremely limited...and I am,already, living on the barest minimum possible...

This company is threatening me with legal action,
and a fine of £5000 if I do not fill out and return the questionnaire to them within 14 days....

What do I do ?

Ectophile

Get proper legal advice, from a lawyer, rather than asking a bunch of random people on a forum.

Poppie68

You need to change the size of the font!
You need legal advice not advice from this forum, first stop though could be CAB and your council.

wealdroam

Doesn't the first letter talk about drains and sewers?

What has that got to do with the supply of water?

What currently happens to your waste water?

hollydays

Threatening you with legal action and a fine for not filling out a questionnaire?
Specifically what are the questions they are so desperate to know the answers to?
Agree you need legal advice as already stated.

p00hsticks

Eco_Child wrote: »

Hi folks,

Desperate situation..

I'm hoping someone can advise....

I am living in Wales and own my own home
along with the borehole/well, which services the property in adjacent field

Back Sept- 2011 I received a letter from
a water company claiming that there were going
to be
~ CHANGES TO THE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR DRAINS AND SEWERS
They stated, " by law, the government has decided that the pipes that go beyond the boundary of the property called " Private sewers and Lateral drains " would be better looked after if they were part of the public sewer network...and the responsibility of your local water and sewerage company... "

They stated also, " ~ You Do Not Have To Do Anything
the transfer of ownership will happen,automatically. "

The letter looked very official along with an enclosed leaflet.
I wrote back to them stating, briefly,

" I am . NOT your customer and I do not give my consent for you to assume ownership. I, also, told them that I had sent a dated copy of my reply letter to a solicitor, for reference... "

The water company, promptly sent me a letter of apology and never bothered me again....

I am now faced with ,yet, another water company,
attempting to take over the ownership of my water..

However, unlike the other company they have official Local Council headed paper, they have, already sent me letters, three or four times, asking me to fill out a questionnaire for them...

I KNOW, they want to trick me into taking over my water supply, so they can make me PAY for my own water.... a farmer told me, this happened to him, and he has, henceforth had to pay for the water supply which is on his land, which, legally ~ Beongs to him, which he ~ Owns !

If these people take over my water supply, or sues me, I'm done for as my financial situation is, already, extremely limited...and I am,already, living on the barest minimum possible...

This company is threatening me with legal action,
and a fine of £5000 if I do not fill out and return the questionnaire to them within 14 days....

What do I do ?

To help make the original post more readable

paddyrg

I doubt there's any concerted plan to steal your water, and in all likelihood you're getting caught up in something that makes utter sense in 99% of cases. The water networks are complex things when you consider that farms often grow or shrink, and what was once your land may become someone else's, with easements etc. But you do need specific advice. Start with CAB.

My parents old farm had a spring and had mains water connections. We used the spring almost uniquely in the house, but mains on the farm. Our meter was about 2 miles away by road, with a single alkathene pipe running from it, across 4 fields via bath 'troughs' in each, then into a bungalow with a separate meter who paid the farm for their usage, then the house and farm buildings. Because of how it had been bought and sold etc over the years, it ran over 4 peoples property before it got to the farm house, crudely blocked from servicing troughs for other farmers, but at only 9" deep it ran into regular problems. We were responsible to pay the water bills, but did not have access to the land to fix problems. A total mess. Perhaps this change is meant to reduce such problems, and inadvertently your situation appears on the surface to be similar enough to get caught up. This is why you need someone proper to help.

I'm sorry to say, but this may take some cash, too.

hollydays

I used to have a spring run accross my land, when some building type work was done the farmer from lower down the slope came to see us to tell us that it was making his water very dirty. So it shows how other people's actions can affect " your" water. In this case the work was short lived but I'd question who could call it " my " water there( not that I did)

maninthestreet

Why would you worry about someone stealing your waste water???

Eco_Child

Hi poppie.... I have tried, hard, to alter font back to the original, but for some reason it won't budge..Apologies..

... Will follow advice as outlined.... thank you, both ...

Eco_Child

Many thanx for altering the size..... I wasnt able to correct my mistake, but will know in future ...