Neighbour threatening to tarmac over my inspection chamber

ThisIsWeird

I gather that he isn't nice to deal with - I think that is clear.
I'm afraid you need to be a bit assertive. There's no aggression involved here - you are simply stating facts, and recording their response. Tbh, the worse their behaviour, the better - as long as you capture it.
Hence 'questions'. Don't TELL him it's 'yours' or anything like that, but ask them to confirm they understand what you are saying. 

mi-key

If it is a public drain, which seems likely, then it isn't 'yours' to worry about. You have reported what is happening to thames water and it is up to them to deal with it. If they do nothing and the neighbour tarmacs over it ( on what isn't land he owns ) then if they need access they will just dig it up.

Quite possibly as it isnt his land then he would have to pay to get it re tarmaced again, but that isnt your concern

mi-key

Remember as well not every property has an inspection cover on it anyway. I have one in my back garden, but the two neighbours to the left who share the same pipes ( it then goes from my house to the main sewer ) don't have covers at all. 

The furthest neighbour has been having problems with blockages, and the water company have had to do all inspection from my inspection cover

twopenny

I would go further than logging your conversation with Thames Water.

I would send a proper letter stating that you had informed them that your neighbour would be tarmacing over their sewage inspection cover and your own. That you did not agree to this and have said so to your neighbour. You could even add a print of your photo on the correspondence.

Make sure you keep a copy with your deeds.

This should cover you in the future should any problems arise that it's TW that neglected to act.

Section62

mi-key said:

If it is a public drain, which seems likely, then it isn't 'yours' to worry about. You have reported what is happening to thames water and it is up to them to deal with it. If they do nothing and the neighbour tarmacs over it ( on what isn't land he owns ) then if they need access they will just dig it up.

Quite possibly as it isnt his land then he would have to pay to get it re tarmaced again, but that isnt your concern

Although the chamber is probably part of the public sewer and therefore not the OP's property, there are two reasons why it should be the OP's concern.

Firstly, if there is a blockage then the sooner it gets cleared the lower the risk of foul water flooding of their property.  The time it takes to clear a blockage where there is no access is significantly more than the time where there is an easily accessible chamber nearby.  It is unlikely the blockage clearance operatives will start digging up the neighbour's drive to find the chamber - that will probably be passed to a different team to do another day.  All the time the sewer remains blocked the greater the chance of foul sewage flooding of the OP's property.  And whilst TW would be liable to compensate them for the damage done, anyone who has experienced foul flooding would tell you that the financial compensation is nothing compared to the loss of personal items and disruption to your life while the mess is cleared up.  There's no certainty the OP's property would get flooded, but the neighbour selfishly covering over a public sewer access point increases the risk to some degree.

The second point is that there is no guarantee that TW would dig up the neighbour's driveway to expose the existing chamber - they may instead opt to dig up the OP's property if they needed access to the public sewer.  Moreover, if the OP's connection to this chamber is private as far as the property boundary then a blockage in this pipe would be the OP's problem to sort out.  Having no access point in their property, and no longer having access via the chamber now hidden under the neighbour's drive, this would mean the OP needing to have a new access chamber constructed in their property at their own expense.

Thames Water should be telling the neighbour not to interfere with the public sewer and to keep the chamber accessible.  The advice they gave about not having the powers to do so is incorrect.

LV_426

Sounds like your neighbour is a complete t***. You have my sympathies.

ThisIsWeird

Thames Water, followed by Ofwat, then?

LV, I agree - and I wouldn't trust this neighbour an inch. If the worst (as outlined by S62) were to happen, there's a good chance they'll try and implicate the OP to the same degree - 'joint decision/ they said now't/ they were ok with it, man'.

Half the population of this country are absolute gits. What have we become?

outtatune

Something tells me that the neighbour is not going to be satisfied by just stealing the land in between them and the OP.

casper_gutman

ThisIsWeird said:

Thames Water, followed by Ofwat, then?

Ofwat won't be interested. They are responsible for "economic regulation" of the water industry.

You'd probably be better off with CCW, the Consumer Council for Water, whose remit includes providing advice and advocacy for aggrieved customers.

Easement12

Since Thames Water Developer Services were no real help, I reported the inspection chamber as damaged (neighbour has cut it down in height so thought this may qualify) on the Thames Water interactive map. An engineer was out that afternoon to investigate and shared my concern, also noticing that another manhole cover further up the drive (on his property but connecting 3 houses) has been tampered with which should not have been touched. Lots of photos were taken by the Thames Water engineer and I fully explained the situation to him. He reassured me that this is one that Thames Water would maintain and that if it did get covered to report a 'blockage' and they would uncover it now that they know the exact location of it.

He did also say that they would then repair the driveway and put a new cover on the inspection chamber, I understand this to be at Thames Water's cost rather than the neighbours. This seems really strange for a company in so much debt to operate like this. Why not just have the power to prevent it in the first place and save a lot of money and time on digging up and repairs! He went to speak to the neighbour to dissuade him but did tell me that they have no powers to stop him and that they may initiate legal proceedings but this can take years.

Anyway, this morning the drive was tarmacked and the inspection chamber has been covered. I asked the workmen if they were aware that they had just covered a public sewer and they said that 'Thames water have been out and said it's a legal connection'.. not sure what this means but I'd be surprised if there are any circumstances under which it would be OK to cover a drain. I did tell them that yes, it was legally put in and that I had personally spoken with the engineer and he offered no circumstances as to when it would be OK to cover it. They they reverted to 'just doing what I've been told'.

Interesting that they were attempting to cover my ring doorbell whilst doing the work and that one was wearing a large hat and sunglasses..

I'm hoping that what I was told by Thames Water is correct and that if I do have any trouble in future, their first call will be to dig up the covered inspection chamber, rather than try to access from my property. Tempted to report a 'blockage' today while the tarmac is still wet to make it a bit easier for them.