Water supply issue

SandGirl

Can anyone help with this please? The water supply to my outside toilet and tap has been disconnected somehow in the last week, during a period when  my neighbour has been having work done in her garden by the council. Nothing else has happened, and her water supply is unaffected.

Water company say they can’t help as it’s not their problem unless it’s the supply closest to the stop !!!!!!. Household water supply is fine. Stop !!!!!! in the house doesn’t control the outside water supply, and the water company won’t help me locate the pipe or tap that is affected despite me being on their priority customer register due to health issues.

Can a local plumber locate what’s needed or what’s broken without help from the water company? What’s likely to be required? I have no idea who to contact to try and fix this. I cannot prove any damage was caused by the council workmen as I’m not sure exactly what day it happened, but it was in the last week. 

I don’t know whether a tap had been turned off somewhere, or a pipe damaged. There is no obvious sign of water pouring from underground anywhere. 

Any pearls of wisdom?!

tacpot12

A plumber can help fix this. If your outside toilet is your only toilet, then I would expect your water company to be obliged to help, but if you have an indoor toilet that works, then they aren't under any obligation to help and I can understand why they have refused.  

If the council have cut you off, you will need a plumber anyway to supply your outside toilet and tap from your house, rather than your neighbour's garden. Your neighbour might have been paying for water you were using for years.

Section62

SandGirl said:

Can anyone help with this please? The water supply to my outside toilet and tap has been disconnected somehow in the last week, during a period when  my neighbour has been having work done in her garden by the council. Nothing else has happened, and her water supply is unaffected.

What kind of work were the council doing, and were both properties originally council-built houses?

If the council had simply damaged the pipe then you would still expect some amount of water to come out of the tap.  If there is nothing coming out thenthat would suggest either the council have operated an isolation valve, or they have intentionally capped off pipework which ultimately supplied part of your property.

It isn't uncommon for LA properties to have linked water (and sometimes electricity) supplies.  In the days where domestic water metering wasn't a thing, and the properties were in the common ownership of the local authority, then it made sense to save a bit of money by having multiple properties served by one pipe.

This is partly why the standard contracts councils use(d) for RTB would include provisions for allowing and maintaining shared services.

Subject to what your deeds say, you may have had a right for the outside toilet/tap to be supplied with water from the neighbour's pipe.  If so, that means the council shouldn't have isolated the supply (or capped the pipe off) without your agreement, or at the very least notifying you of the work they planned to do.

As it was the council doing the work your first enquiry ought to be with them - was the work they were doing related to the water supply in some way, or did they need to turn the water off to do something?  These days people assume 'their' stop valve only affects them, so they (or contractors) will happily turn one off without thinking if it might be affecting someone else.

You don't need a plumber - yet - you need the council to check whether what they have done has impacted on you.

35har1old

Section62 said:

SandGirl said:

Can anyone help with this please? The water supply to my outside toilet and tap has been disconnected somehow in the last week, during a period when  my neighbour has been having work done in her garden by the council. Nothing else has happened, and her water supply is unaffected.

What kind of work were the council doing, and were both properties originally council-built houses?

If the council had simply damaged the pipe then you would still expect some amount of water to come out of the tap.  If there is nothing coming out thenthat would suggest either the council have operated an isolation valve, or they have intentionally capped off pipework which ultimately supplied part of your property.

It isn't uncommon for LA properties to have linked water (and sometimes electricity) supplies.  In the days where domestic water metering wasn't a thing, and the properties were in the common ownership of the local authority, then it made sense to save a bit of money by having multiple properties served by one pipe.

This is partly why the standard contracts councils use(d) for RTB would include provisions for allowing and maintaining shared services.

Subject to what your deeds say, you may have had a right for the outside toilet/tap to be supplied with water from the neighbour's pipe.  If so, that means the council shouldn't have isolated the supply (or capped the pipe off) without your agreement, or at the very least notifying you of the work they planned to do.

As it was the council doing the work your first enquiry ought to be with them - was the work they were doing related to the water supply in some way, or did they need to turn the water off to do something?  These days people assume 'their' stop valve only affects them, so they (or contractors) will happily turn one off without thinking if it might be affecting someone else.

You don't need a plumber - yet - you need the council to check whether what they have done has impacted on you.

Could be a sub contractor has hit
 the pipe checked the supply to the property they where working in and found it still working then wrongly assumed that it was a pipe that had been capped in the past and have just capped it again