Gas detection re water leak for parent loathe to let people in - insurance or direct?

ChrisM78

I'm looking for a bit of advice on a situation at my mother's property - she's 86 and was diagnosed with dementia 2 years ago, and I have power of attorney which she asked me to apply for 5 years ago. She's had very high water bills for over a year, far exceeding what one would expect from one person's usage in a small house - I've questioned this with Thames Water who deem there to be a water leak. They sent an engineer out last year who states that the leak isn't external so not Thames Water's responsibility to fix. They also said that the stopcock in the property needs to be isolated - the problem is that a plumber (who I've used a few times who seems reliable) says that what the engineer is referring to under my mum's sink is only to isolate the cold tap, and that despite a thorough search of the property, he couldn't locate a stopcock.

This leaves gas detection as the best means of moving forward. The problem is that my mum is very wary of letting people in the property - it took 5 visits for her (over 8 months) to allow a smart meter for electricity to be fitted, usually sending the engineer away. I don't have any direct personal contact with my mum anymore, owing to quite a long history of her being abusive to me, leading me to feeling very suicidal 3 years ago. Her social care team have said that they'll facilitate the situation re a visit. I haven't looked into whether the gas detection will be covered by her Saga home insurance - I'm foreseeing my mum not allowing entrance to the gas detection team, so don't know if I'm just best off paying for the detection bypassing insurance. Thames have set up a payment plan for 3 months and will apply a leak allowance, but once that 3 months is up, they'll be looking for a considerable amount, so time is of the essence.

Has anyone else here had experience of arranging something like this for a parent or relative who is loathe to letting people in? I don't mind saying that I find it triggering dealing with things like this on her behalf owing to trauma resulting from her going back to my childhood so just want it to go along as smoothly as possible. How invasive is the detection usually?

flaneurs_lobster

Should someone have PoA for someone who ws/is abusive towards them and who doesn't have any personal contact with the doner?

ChrisM78

Of course not, ideally. Things escalated in the few months before I stopped direct contact. My dad's been dead for 13 years and I'm her only child.

Anyway, as I said, I'm just looking for a bit of advice re the situation at hand.

marcia_

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81986522#Comment_81986522

the problem at hand is you have POA for a person you have no contact with 🤷 how are you to fulfil your role without seeing her or accessing her home?
How incapacitated is your mother as she should have input if she is able.

ChrisM78

She stated recently that she wants me to remain as power of attorney.

Anyway…advice about the main issue at hand would be appreciated.

marcia_

Any other relatives or a friend of hers who could take her out for shopping or cake & tea if you got a set appointment?

FreeBear

Couple of quick questions.

Is the incoming water pipe lead ?

Does it pass through any concrete ?

If it is lead and passes through concrete, it is quite possible that the cement has caused the pipe to corrode. Fixing it would mean digging up the route of the old pipe and laying in a new MDPE pipe (blue plastic). Running it in to the house may involve digging up the floor under the sink or finding another point to hook it up.

Unfortunately, this means people will need to spend a couple of days working outside and in.

dnpark38

Sounds like your mum has a water meter where I am the stop tap is in the same container on the pavement as the meter.

My wife has dementia and our house is registered with the Gas, Electric and water as being vulnerable.

Not clear on how gas effects a water leak.

flaneurs_lobster

Not clear on how gas effects a water leak.

Nothing to do with the domestic gas supply.

It's a method of detecting location of leaks by squirting a Hydrogen/Nitrogen (usually 5/95) gas under pressure into the supply and using sensitive probes to detect leaking H.