Annexe water supply connected to neighbours meter

Peeky_Joe

So as the title suggests, we have an annexe at the bottom of our garden and have discovered the water supply is connected to our neighbours water meter.
A bit of background, we purchased the house around 18 months ago with the annexe included as part of the property. The annexe was built by the person we purchased from (the same person also built both ours and our neighbours houses and our neighbour also purchased their property from him a year or so before us). 

We have spoken to Essex and Suffolk water and they were of little help, essentially saying we deliver the water to the property and what happens after that is on us.
I have also had a quote from a plumber to repipe from the annexe and connect to our house/meter and the cost was £7.5k, which is eye watering and not money we have available. My question to the knowledgeable forum posters is what are our options? The house was built in 2019 so not sure if it falls under some new build insurance (my guess is not). Are we liable for the costs or should it be something the previous owner be liable for as the person who connected the pipes incorrectly? It feels incredibly unfair we end up footing the bill for his mistake but I am very aware of life’s ability to give you a swift kick in the danglies, unfair or not!!
I do plan on speaking to my conveyancer who handled our house purchase but I hold little hope of that conversation being much help.
I appreciate any advice you may have
Thanks

Emmia

Is it possible for the Annexe to not have a water supply, so you disconnect it from your neighbours whilst saving the money up (assuming your other route to fix this isn't viable?)

Boohoo

Would the OP have to cap off/make good the neighbours water pipe also?

If the neighbour is supplying the water from their water meter who was paying for the water used in the annex and I assume they know about the pipe now?

mmmmikey

Unfortunately I suspect this is a problem you're liable for unless you can somehow pin it on your conveyancer. 

If the neighbour is ok with it you could maybe install a meter where the supply enters the annex and then use that to work out your share of the bill. You'd then pay your neighbour rather than the water company.

A meter costs £20 or so from the likes of Amazon and is a reasonably straightforward DIY installation or you could pay a plumber to do it.

The catch is that this would only work for as long as you're on good terms with your neighbour.

£7.5k sounds like a lot of money for the work and maybe the plumber has given you a high price because they don't want the work? Having said that, there might be something that makes this particularly difficult.

mmmmikey

...as an afterthought, have a look at the pre-contract enquiries, a standard form the seller fills in. If they made a false statement on that form about the water supply then you may have a claim against them. IIRC there's a question about who supplies the water and if they haven't said that the neighbour supplies the annexe then you might be able to get them to pay. So probably worth a check of the paperwork from the house purchase and/or chat with your conveyancer.

Peeky_Joe

Emmia said:

Is it possible for the Annexe to not have a water supply, so you disconnect it from your neighbours whilst saving the money up (assuming your other route to fix this isn't viable?)

Sadly not as the Mother-in-law lives in it.......although tempting!

tetrarch

Can you not just buy an additional water meter and pay your neighbour for the water your MIL uses?

Regards

Tet

sheenas

Without any details. Running a water pipe and connecting it up correctly then capping the supply is going to cost £7500? I would say no unless there is a very long pipe run for witch a trench needs digging. I would get a quote from another plumber or two.