Sewer pipe issue

[Daninplymouth]

Hi, wondered if anyone had any advice on an issue I have.
My property has a shared sewer on the side from 3-4 houses. This sewer has been a nightmare over the years, it blocks every few months. The local water company come to flush it when this happens, a few years ago they put a liner in it to try and help which it did, went from blocking every 2-3 months to now about once every 6months.

The problem is I’m the house at the lowest level so when it blocks up we get directly effected, sewage over the path or being pushed into my pipework.

Now my issue at the moment is we have a small piece of pipe about a meter long runs from my house to this shared sewer, after the last blockage a few weeks back this pipe has now cracked/dropped and isn’t draining. This pipe only carries water from my sink and shower so no heavy solids. I know it was flowing fine as I checked the drain outside about 2 weeks prior to the blockage removing some leaves and it was fine, so to me it seems too much of a coincidence that this pipe has now broke right at the time we had a big blockage in the manhole it connects to. This was a big blockage it had forced waste back up my stack pipe and out the joints so it was across my path.

I’m trying to get the water company to fix this but they say they are only responsible for the main sewer, my counter is it’s their equipment that has caused damage to my property.
This has been ongoing for a while now as you can’t ring them always a massive queue and they reply to an email every 7days.

I just wondered what my next mover should be, my options seem to be:
1. Pay and get it fixed.
2. Contact house insurance and get them sort and pay the excess.
3. Continue fighting with the water company and hope they agree to fix.
I haven’t looked into all the options properly i think my excess would be a few hundred and at a guess I think it’s about £800-1000 to fix the pipe. The thing is it’s almost a matter of principle to me and I don’t feel like getting it repaired when to me it’s obviously caused by the other drain.

 

[alicat]

Hi @Daninplymouth

I only skimmed your post since I found it hard to read without the usual spaces between the paragraphs.

Personally I'd go with making a claim on my house insurance if I had no evidence that the water company was aware that its actions/inactions were likely to cause damage to your property. Others may have a different opinion and only you can know how much stomach you have for a fight.

 

[Emanresu]

Wrong forum. Try this one. Check your deeds about covenants - they can be tricky.

https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php

 

[PaulSB]

I think you need to look realistically at the situation. You want the problem fixed and, potentially, there could be problems you cannot see.

You have three possible ways to get this paid for:

• The water company. You won't win this battle and if you did it will take years
• Pay for it yourself and risk what other issues might be found
• House insurance claim which passes the risk to the insurer. If your premium increases you can always shop around for a new insurer

I think your course of action is obvious

 

[CXRAndy]

I’m trying to get the water company to fix this but they say they are only responsible for the main sewer, my counter is it’s their equipment that has caused damage to my property

You will have a hard time proving that. They could easily say, if pipe was in good order, it wouldnt have failed. Or it was like that before hand.

If that is your footpath, dig it up, expose the problem and get a builder or groundsman to fix it properly

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Claim on house insurance - that's what it's there for.

 

[fossyant]

If it's just that short run, I'd dig it up, and inspect. If you can't do it, get insurance to come out - at least you will reduce the cost and know what the issue is if you've taken a look at it.

 

[Daninplymouth]

I haven’t got a clue what I’m looking at to be honest. But when the water company last came and flushed the main pipe they also clear the 6 or so pipes attached to it, one being this little piece and the water wouldn’t drain back also they looked on the camera and said it was damaged.
Guessing il look at my insurance and stump up the excess just frustrating as I’m 99% sure it was the sewer blocking that cracked my pipe

 

[CXRAndy]

Just do a bit of research, watch YouTube videos. Then crack on-if so inclined to attempt it. It's only a bit of digging, cut plastic pipe, couplers and bends. Pipe sealant where it enters chamber.

I did a new sink connection to sewer. Dug it out, did above

 

[mickle]

We had loads of problems with a pair of back inlet gulleys and their connection to the sewerage, paving stones sagging by the back door and cracks appearing in the house. We spent a long time fretting about it but it took us an inordinate amount if time for it to dawn on us that this is exactly the sort of thing that we have household insurance for. We called them, a couple of blokes rocked up within a couple of days and replaced two broken pipes and relaid the pavers. The thing is, your insurance company will be very keen to fix the pipe problem asap before it does a lot more damage to the property.

 

[Beebo]

As above, if the pipe is on your land it’s almost certainly your problem. The water company only concern themselves with the main sewers.

The insurance company may try to say it’s a wear and tear issue, but it could be root ingress or displacement due to subsidence. Either way I would let them know and see what they say. They will probably stick a camera down there.

 

[Beebo]

Quite a useful image.

 

[Daninplymouth]

Will contact the insurance and see what they say.

I know technically the water company are only responsible for the sewer pipe but this pipe has has nothing but issues. Most of the engineers know me or the wife, when the last one arrived he joked he hadn’t been here for a while.

So although they aren’t responsible I feel they should accept some liability as I stand by the fact their pipework is damaging mine. The other day waste was forced back out my stack pipe so this can’t be doing that much good I’d have thought.