Building work affecting water supply/ impact of neighbours extension

archiball

Hello

I hope someone can help on this. I’ll try and keep it fairly short.

My mums neighbours are building an extension. She is at the end of a water supply that supplies 3 houses starting from the house at the other side of her neighbour, through them and to my mums, then back into the mains. Since the work began it has affected my mums water supply; on the first day the water was discoloured and the two toilet overflows (my mum has a downstairs toilet as well as the bathroom upstairs) were set off because grit got into the water systems. My mum had to call out a plumber to get it unblocked. One of the toilets was blocked again with grit when the builders were back this last week so she had to get the plumber out again, so I imagine it will keep happening whilst this work is going on.

A bit of the back story to this - last year the neighbours had their water supply pipes moved (presumably so it wasn’t going to be underneath their intended extension) and when this work occurred dirt got into my mums water supply– she had to pay for a new pump, replace a toilet flush that got blocked with dirt and it also affected the central heating. My mum didn’t ask the neighbours to pay for this (even though I suggested she did). My mum got on with the neighbours before the extension so I imagine she wanted to try keep on good terms.


What I want to know is, should the neighbours pay for the impact their work is having now? And if so, how do you go about it when relations with them have broken down? Is asking in writing a bit formal? It feels wrong my mum – who is in her 70s – keeps having to call out a plumber and pay for it, when it is clearly caused by the building next door. There’s no mediation or anything where my mum lives and we can’t really afford to get lawyered up.

Also, I’m worried about the future impact on water supply - what are people’s experiences when their neighbour gets an extension on a shared supply? This one will have a toilet and “utility room”. I’m worried it will affect the water pressure – has that happened to anyone? Is it worth looking into getting an individual supply to the house? Is that expensive?

Thank you for reading and thanks in advance for your thoughts / experiences.

Ectophile

It really shouldn't happen at all. I would recommend contacting the water company to find out why her supply is being contaminated with dirt. It sounds like there is something wrong with the pipework.

Davesnave

It's a supply problem, so unless it's a private one, the relevant water authority should have been contacted. It shouldn't happen. They have a responsibility here to find out what's going on.

TELLIT01

It sounds as if the builder isn't protecting the pipe properly to prevent muck getting in when they have it disconnected. They should certainly be paying for all the work required to sort out problem with the plumbing in your mum's house. (I nearly put "your mum's plumbing") but that is open to misinterpretation.

archiball

Thanks for the replies. I'll contact the water folk and see if what they say.



Ps. Lol "your mum's plumbing"!

archiball

Further to this, I contacted the water people and they're saying it's not their responsibility as it's not on the mains pipe. Somehow dirt getting into my mum's water supply is her fault, apparently. Sort of feels like a merry-go-round where no one wants to take responsibility for anything but will happily charge you an extortionate amount for not taking that responsibility.


Thanks again for the replies.

Davesnave

archiball wrote: »

Further to this, I contacted the water people and they're saying it's not their responsibility as it's not on the mains pipe. Somehow dirt getting into my mum's water supply is her fault, apparently.

If the pipe that supplies the 3 houses has been altered/damaged after the stop tap on the first property's boundary, then it's a private matter, even though the pipe is shared.This is different from drains, where a shared pipe is now the water company's responsibiity, regardless of whose land it's on.


https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-pipes/



I'm sure nobody has blamed your Mum for dirt being in the system; why would they? The company have just declined to take responsibility for pipes and work which are not theirs to fix. Maybe they could have helped more by giving the contact details for whoever tests supplies to make sure they are safe. That should be the priority now, surely ?