Shared supply pipe leak - being issued with Section 75 notice

silvercar

Here is clear guidance on responsibility: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-pipes/

The water board or your local council are far more likely to have plans or where the pipes lay than your deeds, unless your house is a recent development and the developers have diagrams of the pipe routings.

silvercar

Also check your house insurance, you may have coverage. 

dank_2

Thanks for the replies @silvercar, they're much appreciated.

I've emailed our house insurance to see what they say on the issue. I've more or less given up trying to fix this between ourselves and it's not worth the hassle or the dent it's making to my mental health.

One of the neighbours is with Home Serve, but I guess they'd only act in the interest of that household, rather than fix the issue and stop the others from incurring any costs.

dank_2

So, an update on this...

Despite my best efforts to get all households to work together and fix the issue privately, they all couldn't care less. I somehow became the spokesperson for us all, and in the end I said to Thames Water that it would probably be best if they carried out the repair and invoiced us as it was starting to annoy me.

Their contractor sent all of us two letters, dated 8th and 9th December. Due to the Royal Mail strikes, both letters didn't arrive until 17th December. Both letters were section 75 legal notices.

The first letter told us we had two weeks to sort it out (so up until 22nd December), or they'll do it.

The second letter - remember this was sent just a day later - told us they were coming out to repair the leaks on 19th December, so before the two week notice period expired. And, because both letters arrived on the Saturday before they commenced work on the Monday, there was no way for us to react in time (had any of my neighbours actually wanted to!)

I contacted the Consumer Council for Water as a last ditch attempt as I was unhappy with the situation. I'll give them their dues: they listened and took note of everything I said, then raised my complaint directly to Thames Water. I didn't expect anything to happen and was worried about the bill I'd be getting as the contractors spent three days digging up my garden.

But no, Thames Water emailed me this week to say they're not charging us and apologised for the poor communication throughout this entire episode. To say I'm relieved is an understatement.

elsien

Result, well done.
Just in case this might be helpful to others in the future, what answer did you get from your insurer about what they would/wouldn't cover?

diystarter7

Hi OP
Many thanks for the update as this helps most. Good to see you have got it sorted.
Take care.