Money Moral Dilemma: Is it fair I pay to repair a water pipe that only supplies our neighbours?

Skier_G

I suspect that the lead in the water they are getting is affecting their behaviour. Get the water company involved, confirm that the pipe is the responsibility of the neighbour and have them talk to the neighbour. If the leak is damaging your property and you can't get the water company to help, write a letter to the neighbour giving them a week to get the pipe fixed or you will fix it and then claim the whole bill through small claims. 

JustJus1701

Get it disconnected. No water, no problem. 

Ian181676

It's clearly not solely your responsibility.  At worst it would be a shared responsibility between you and your neighbour.  Unless some agreement to the contrary was made when you stopped using the pipe, I would expect you are jointly responsible for its maintenance.  Your choosing to stop using it is unlikely to have changed an already existing responsibility to maintain it.

You and your neighbour have an obligation to get the leak repaired.  If the neighbour won't cooperate tell them that you'll have to turn the supply off at the water company stopcock until the leak is repaired.

You could also ask the water company to confirm there's a leak.  They'll then require you and your neighbour to get it repaired as soon as possible.  If you don't then the water company has a statutory duty to get it repaired, but they'll probably recover the costs of doing so from you and your neighbour.

Sheepies

If it's causing damage to your property I would be tempted to get a pair of pliers and clamp it off before the leak, see how fast the neighbours offer to pay for the repair then!

daivid

Dave_c_v said:

I think the Big issue here is "LEAD Pipe"! Your neighbours are being poisoned every day especially in the morning when the water has stood in the pipe all night dissolving the lead. I do hope there are no children next door as young children will get brain damaged in the same way lead in car fumes damaged children.  By the attitude of your neighbours some brain damage has already occurred to the not so grown ups. 

In hard water areas lead pipes aren’t such a big deal. It may well be surviver bias but many in my family have lived healthily into old age despite having the water arrive at their houses through lead pipe. The leak is another matter and the OP should be passing on to the water company and ,if they have it, considering using their home insurance legal cover.

JJJBBB

It depends where the leak is. If it's before the pipe splits into two (to supply each house), you and your neighbor are jointly responsible for it. If it's between the point at which the pipe splits and your neighbor's house, your neighbor is solely responsible. The water company is not responsible 

Presstotest

if it’s not causing you any problems leave it 

mira77

"The leak is another matter and the OP should be passing on to the water company and ,if they have it, considering using their home insurance legal cover."

this! it's not a moral dilemma it's a legal issue.
tell the neighbour that any damage the leak is causing to your property will be their responsibility so they need to check their insurance (some exclude water damage these days) and that could mean seeing your neighbour in court. 

All_Ears

1. Ask your water company's advice concerning the leakage i.e. whose responsibility it is.
2. Once you have found this out, you are in a stronger position as you now have the knowledge, but don't lie by saying it is your neighbour's problem when your water company has told you differently.
3. thus, depending upon what your water company have said, you may inform your neighbours of the situation.
4. If the leak IS their responsibility, then they must accept that and pay for a) the repair of the leak in its entirety and b) for any damage to your property caused as a result of the leak and any damage, say, to floorboards. If they refute that it is their responsibility, then you may have to go to court to resolve the issue. That could be far more costly than your plumber's fees!

Groom

JJJBBB said:

It depends where the leak is. If it's before the pipe splits into two (to supply each house), you and your neighbor are jointly responsible for it. If it's between the point at which the pipe splits and your neighbor's house, your neighbor is solely responsible. The water company is not responsible 

That sounds the most sensible answer so far, it obviously depends where the leak is.