Mains water supply pipe beyond property boundary insurance

Tom720

Hi,

I've read several old threads and can't find one specific to my needs. I live in rural Wales and the majority of my mains water supply pipe runs below a neighbour's field so it's not covered by standard home insurance.

Since 1993 I've been insuring it with Homeserve. Initially the premium was very cheap because it covered only the pipe but for the last few years the premium increased dramatically when the company included unwanted extras like home emergency.

My water supplier Welsh Water doesn't offer this insurance so does anyone know of an insurance company which can?

Baldytyke88

Surely, a main water supply that is not on your property is the responsibility of the water company?

35har1old

Tom720 said:

Hi,

I've read several old threads and can't find one specific to my needs. I live in rural Wales and the majority of my mains water supply pipe runs below a neighbour's field so it's not covered by standard home insurance.

Since 1993 I've been insuring it with Homeserve. Initially the premium was very cheap because it covered only the pipe but for the last few years the premium increased dramatically when the company included unwanted extras like home emergency.

My water supplier Welsh Water doesn't offer this insurance so does anyone know of an insurance company which can?

Where is the meter or external stopcock?

Grumpy_chap

Why does the OP want to insure the pipe before it crosses into their curtilage and becomes their problem?
I suspect this pipe might not be an insurable risk for the OP as the OP has no interest in the pipe.  That is interest in a legal / ownership sense, not lack of actual concern if the pipe bursts.

35har1old

Grumpy_chap said:

Why does the OP want to insure the pipe before it crosses into their curtilage and becomes their problem?
I suspect this pipe might not be an insurable risk for the OP as the OP has no interest in the pipe.  That is interest in a legal / ownership sense, not lack of actual concern if the pipe bursts.

If the pipe passes through a third party field or garden would the water company have a problem repairing it?
Edit if it does the house owner is responsible 

luci

I agree with the others. If it's not within your boundary then it's not your responsibility, it's the responsibility of Welsh Water. IIRC, Homeserve insurance only covers leaks from mains water supply pipe within your own boundary.

Just for info if anyone's interested. Scottish Water will repair one leak within your boundary FOC. We had a second leak recently, as the mains pipes in our area have reached the end of their  life and there have been leaks at various properties. We were told that we would have to replace the mains pipe from the toby on the street to the stopcock inside the house, at our own expense. 

I was going to ask the cost for getting that done anyway, as I didn't want repeated leaks and the front garden having to be dug up each time. However, I didn't appreciate having a gun held to my head and told what I had to do within my own boundary and said as much to the water board engineer. He was very nice, but he told me that SW can and do prosecute people who don't comply. I think this is outrageous, as some people may not have the money to do it if their home insurance didn't cover it.

We did get it done at our own expense. It involved getting a contractor to dig up and lay a new mains supply pipe from the toby to the wall of our house. We then needed a plumber to feed the pipe under the house and connect it to the stopcock.

Tom720

Baldytyke88 said:

Surely, a main water supply that is not on your property is the responsibility of the water company?

The pipe after the mains stopcock is apparently the responsibility of the homeowner, at least in the view of Welsh Water.

Tom720

35har1old said:

Tom720 said:

Hi,

I've read several old threads and can't find one specific to my needs. I live in rural Wales and the majority of my mains water supply pipe runs below a neighbour's field so it's not covered by standard home insurance.

Since 1993 I've been insuring it with Homeserve. Initially the premium was very cheap because it covered only the pipe but for the last few years the premium increased dramatically when the company included unwanted extras like home emergency.

My water supplier Welsh Water doesn't offer this insurance so does anyone know of an insurance company which can?

Where is the meter or external stopcock?

There's no meter and the company's mains stopcock is close to the road about 350m away.

Tom720

Grumpy_chap said:

Why does the OP want to insure the pipe before it crosses into their curtilage and becomes their problem?
I suspect this pipe might not be an insurable risk for the OP as the OP has no interest in the pipe.  That is interest in a legal / ownership sense, not lack of actual concern if the pipe bursts.

I began insuring the pipe on the advice of my solicitor when I first bought my house in 1993. It's definitely an insurable risk and Homeserve paid for a repair roughly halfway along the pipe around eight years ago. My only problem is that Homeserve appear to be the only company offering such cover beyond the property boundary and in order to have the insurance I need to buy a policy which now includes several home emergency addons which I'd never use.

Tom720

luci said:

I agree with the others. If it's not within your boundary then it's not your responsibility, it's the responsibility of Welsh Water. IIRC, Homeserve insurance only covers leaks from mains water supply pipe within your own boundary.

Just for info if anyone's interested. Scottish Water will repair one leak within your boundary FOC. We had a second leak recently, as the mains pipes in our area have reached the end of their  life and there have been leaks at various properties. We were told that we would have to replace the mains pipe from the toby on the street to the stopcock inside the house, at our own expense. 

I was going to ask the cost for getting that done anyway, as I didn't want repeated leaks and the front garden having to be dug up each time. However, I didn't appreciate having a gun held to my head and told what I had to do within my own boundary and said as much to the water board engineer. He was very nice, but he told me that SW can and do prosecute people who don't comply. I think this is outrageous, as some people may not have the money to do it if their home insurance didn't cover it.

We did get it done at our own expense. It involved getting a contractor to dig up and lay a new mains supply pipe from the toby to the wall of our house. We then needed a plumber to feed the pipe under the house and connect it to the stopcock.

Welsh Water detected a leak on the pipe around eight years ago and gave me a limited time to fix it, after which they would charge the cost of (a highly arbitrary) 550 litres per hour. Homeserve sent a bunch of cowboys with a mini digger who dug a trench across my neighbour's field from close to the main road about 350m uphill from my property. Standard home insurance would have checked the first 100m or so from my house and in this case not found a leak which was a further 150m upstream on my neighbour's land. There's no doubt that I need to insure the pipe but with a 'pipe only' policy if such exists.

Tom720

Baldytyke88 said:

Surely, a main water supply that is not on your property is the responsibility of the water company?

This is probably so for the vast majority of properties but in my case complicated by the supply pipe running within a neighbour's property.