Do Southern Water Still Repair Leaks Free?

daveoc22

In the post I've had a letter from Southern Water offering me a years sub to 'Homesave Plumbing and Drainage Plus' for £6.

One of the main selling points of this insurance is that it covers repairs to leaks between the pavement water meter and the entrance to the property.

A couple of years back I had such a leak which Southern Water came and repaired for free. I remember at the time there was a link on their website saying they will do such free repairs up to three times.

I've looked at the website today and I can find no mention of them doing any free repairs, let alone three. If you look under leaks they say they will send someone to spend up to and hour for free looking for leaks and then they will give you details of firms that can repair it.

So, does anyone know if Southern Water have stopped doing free repairs on such leaks. If they have then, given the amount of work it took to fix the leak I had, the Homeserve insurance might be worth my thinking about.

Ebe_Scrooge

I don't know about Southern Water specifically, but it's certainly common practice that the "water board" are responsible for everything up to the main stop-!!!! in the pavement, from there to your house is your responsibility.


If the insurance policy really is just £6 a year ( are you sure it's not per month ? ) then I would say go for it - as long as it covers what you need. Leaks in the underground pipework are not common, but can be expensive to fix ( unless you do it yourself, which I have done in the past ). But for the sake of 6 quid a year it's worth having I'd say.

daveoc22

It is £6 a year then goes up to £96 at renewal---I've googled the deal and it seems it's a common offer and is even on their website.

I think it has always been the householders responsibility from the pavement to the front door but, in the past, most water companies had a policy of at least one free repair. As I said it happened to me a couple of years back and Southern Water found and repaired the leak for free but I can no longer find mention of free repairs on their website, so I'm guessing they have stopped it as it was costing too much.

I dread to think how much my repairs would have cost so I'm very tempted by this offer if free repairs have indeed stopped.

EssexExile

We often get letters like that from Severn Trent water but they say somewhere in the small print that they will "usually" do the first repair free.

Chanes

We took the offer up. So far the main stop tap inside the house which was weeping slightly has been repaired and a dishwasher connector that was leaking slightly has been fixed within the contract. It cost £6 last year and they jumped the price to well over £120. when the renewal came because we had called them out twice. A quick phone call brought the price back to £96 and we renewed it.

And the point is this, we never gave much thought to it until I walked past a neighbours house and water was bleeding up heavily all over the front grounds of the property. Within a few days a digger had removed most of their garden - it is a big garden. It took three days of works before it was back to normal. I didn't ask if he was insured for it but I know it would have been an expensive repair, hence £96 a year for peace of mind is a bargain.

daveoc22

EssexExile wrote: »

We often get letters like that from Severn Trent water but they say somewhere in the small print that they will "usually" do the first repair free.

Agreed, there is a small print message on my letter but it's a bit vague:

''We will offer up to one hours free leak detection work to help find a leak where water is not obvious above ground.Unfortunately we can't always carry out repairs but will advise you on the best way to get it fixed. We are able to offer assistance to customers who are on our social tariffs, special needs register or certain means tested benefits''.

daveoc22

Chanes wrote: »

We took the offer up. So far the main stop tap inside the house which was weeping slightly has been repaired and a dishwasher connector that was leaking slightly has been fixed within the contract. It cost £6 last year and they jumped the price to well over £120. when the renewal came because we had called them out twice. A quick phone call brought the price back to £96 and we renewed it.

And the point is this, we never gave much thought to it until I walked past a neighbours house and water was bleeding up heavily all over the front grounds of the property. Within a few days a digger had removed most of their garden - it is a big garden. It took three days of works before it was back to normal. I didn't ask if he was insured for it but I know it would have been an expensive repair, hence £96 a year for peace of mind is a bargain.

Yes, and that's what is making me consider taking it up.

We've been in our house 35 years and it was only after the meter was installed a couple of years back that we found there was a leak. It was not visible and they said it could have been there 10,20 years.

When Southern Water came to check for the leak they were very good. They walked down the drive checking and listening and then found the leak around 3 feet from our front door. They took up the block paving, dug down around 5 feet, repaired it and put everything back as good as new. Would have cost me several hundred pounds if they didn't do it for free.

daveoc22

Thought I would come back with the answer I got from Southern Water during a live chat.

They say that no, they no longer do any free repair where there is a leak between the pavement and the customers house. They will do a one hour free check to try and locate where the leak is but any repair cost is down to the individual.

I thought there was some agreement between the water boards and Ofwat years ago where the Companies agreed to provide at least one free repair ( and Southern Water used to do up to three) but it seems that no longer applies.

Looks like there is a definite need for either Homeserve or household insurance then. I checked my house policy and it says it covers this type of problem up to £500.

EssexExile

Then it depends on your view on the risk. £100 a year (after the first year) against a possible bill of a few hundred sometime. I've owned houses for over 40 years & never needed this service yet. That's a lot of £100 saved.

daveoc22

Like I said I've found that I have cover for this included in my house policy so I'm not so worried now about the cost side.

I'm more concerned that what I thought was a legal requirement of Southern, and I assumed all water companies, seems to have been quietly put to one side without anything coming out about it.

I guess most households have insurance so most people will be covered if things do go wrong.

lardlikesdogs

You need to move to Yorkshire Water ..... Taken from YW website..

Although leaks on the supply pipe are legally the responsibility of the owner, we’ll assist you in detecting a leak and we’ll carry out free repairs for domestic customers, subject to certain terms and conditions.

We provide a leakage detection service as part of our free repair service for domestic customers’ supply pipes. This will not apply if the leak is underneath your home or an outbuilding.

We require your agreement, before we can begin work on private property. You must request a free repair within 28 days of becoming aware of the leak. We’ll only repair your supply pipe up to the point at which it enters or runs underneath your home or an outbuilding