Water Leak

poppett

I live in a rented place and today out of the blue a person from the water board arrived on my doorstep saying they'd had a report of a suspect leak from my property. I had no idea what he was on about but he said my water meter (and the front of the property) was going crazy and he was here to investigate. After checking his ID etc I let him enter the propery. He checked the stop tap and found that wasn't even working! So, I have to get the landlord to replace that before th water board can investigate any further.

As my lease on this place is up in the next month, I immediately phoned the agents and explained and they have sent someone round straight away!!! The plumber will be back tomorrow to repair the stop tap and then I must inform the water board again.

They will then come out and do an investigation into the leak. Now I know I am not resposible for any costs involved here BUT I am at the moment paying my water rates at £38 per month on an instalment plan. How do I know if I have been paying too much since I moved in last year, seeing as I have no water bills? I did phone them not long ago and was told it was the meter reader that reported the meter "whizzing around" 3 days ago when he took the new reading and up to today my outstanding bill is £712!:eek:

Obviously, after this work has been done I will try and get some rebate if there as been a leak but how successful do you think I will be?

Cardew

A couple of points.

When you say that you are "not responsible for any of the costs here" I assume you mean the landlord is responsible?

The water company are not responsible for any leak inside your property, or indeed in the pipes from the meter to your house. They have supplied the water and are fully within their rights to demand their money.

That said they sometimes make a 'goodwill' gesture on the bill; but don't depend upon getting it.

Your dispute will, in essence, be between the landlord and yourself. Any rebate will be in the form of compensation from the Landlord - unless the Water company make a goodwill gesture

The average consumption is approx 60 cubic meters per person, per year. So depending on how many people in the property, and for how long, you can work out from their website an average bill; and make that your starting point for negotiations.

poppett

Cardew wrote: »

A couple of points.

When you say that you are "not responsible for any of the costs here" I assume you mean the landlord is responsible?

The water company are not responsible for any leak inside your property, or indeed in the pipes from the meter to your house. They have supplied the water and are fully within their rights to demand their money.

That said they sometimes make a 'goodwill' gesture on the bill; but don't depend upon getting it.

Your dispute will, in essence, be between the landlord and yourself. Any rebate will be in the form of compensation from the Landlord - unless the Water company make a goodwill gesture

The average consumption is approx 60 cubic meters per person, per year. So depending on how many people in the property, and for how long, you can work out from their website an average bill; and make that your starting point for negotiations.

Yes, I do mean my landlord is responsible for any costs. The water board man says they can do any work outside the property ~ from drains down to the water meter for free but if they found out the leak is under the structures of the property then that is the landlords responsibility to pay for.

Thanks for the sdvice re the average consumption...I will check out the website and see what I can come up with.

sinbin_72

I've had 2 water leaks in the last 2 years and my provider is United Utilities. They normally ask you to fill in a burst allowance claim form and they will organise for 2 readings to be taken 1 month apart. From this data they will estimate your usage over the period of the leak and will recalculate your bill.
Not sure if your water company will follow the same procedure but that what my experience was it it's any help.
One thing I will say is that you should get the contractors work order sent off to the water company with a letter of explanation as soon as possible. Water companies are notoriously slow at anything so it's best to get the ball rolling straight away. I would follow the letter up with a call to your water company asking for a claim form and also to book an appointment for the meter to be re-read.

Good luck with your claim.

nickine

Hi
We've got a similar thing but in our area we pay one firm for water in and another for water out. The water in takes the meter readings and passes them on to the water out company to base their bill on.

We had an apparent leak in the summer last year which came through at a whopping £378. Unsurprisingly the Water out bill followed shortly after for the same amount.

One girl I spoke to said that an engineer had looked into it and confirmed there is no leak now but because the leak occurred after the meter (ie. within my properties pipework) there is no leak allowance.
I went to OfWat for advice (http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/Content/navigation-publications-aboutofwat-customersandcomplaints) and they suggested going back to the water company and requesting their complaints guidelines before they will step in. So I've started a formal complaint and am have asked them:
a) where they reckon this water went as we are basement flat with concrete floors so would surely notice the equivalent of 1 years worth of water pumping out in a 3 month period.
b) what they propose to put to the water out people so that they adjust the bill accordingly.

The only thing I wanted to make you aware of is that as you are shown on the council tax you are legally responsible for this charge. Your landlord may help stump up the cash but it is a good idea to contest.

Good luck