My? manhole cover in the pavement outside house

[chris French]

OK, situation, our Victorian detached house, fronts directly onto the pavement in our village.

There is a soil pipe at the front of the house, put in AFAIK in the

70's, maybe early '80s when a bedroom was converted to a bathroom, draining into the public sewer in the road. It sees to be just our drain, so AIUI that makes it our responsibility

There is manhole cover over the drain in the pavement - this is just a pressed steel jobbie, not a cast one as would be used by a utility, it has rusted through in one of the dips in one of the handle areas so I figure that I need to replace it before someone puts a foot through it one day.

Now, with a bit of luck I might be able to just put a new lid on, but I know that often it ends up easier to replace the frame as well.

But being in the pavement, what implications does this have? Presumably the local authority might have something to say about this, seeing as they have responsibility for the pavements? Will the lid need to be to a certain standard? If I have to replace the frame would I need to use certain contractors? etc.

I know I could just contact them, but I like to go into these things with a bit of awareness of the what the requirements are

[Dave Liquorice]

I'd be tempted to play the "innocent concerned householder" and report the rusty/dangerous cover to the council street works department. They might just come along and replace it FOC. B-) I'd probably send the notification as a letter and keep a copy.

I'd say that you, as a householder, are not allowed to do works on the public highway but who has responsibility for the cover seems to be a bit grey. It's in the highway so it could be the councils but it is on your drain...

[Lobster]

But equally, might they not inspect it and then insist that it's repaired immediately, and that the OP pays for it? No idea what the correct answer is, but I can well understand the OP wanting to know the legalities before approaching them.

David

[Stuart Noble]

If it's beyond the boundary of the property, I'd say it's not your problem

[Owain]

The lid would need to be to highways standard, whatever the council decide that is, and you would have to use a contractor registered under the New Roads and Streetworks Act 1991. Opening up the highway the 'ole will have to be guarded and signed to comply with Safety at Streetworks and Road Works Code of Practice. There are qualifications which supervisors and operatives have to have.

Owain

[Invisible Man]

Our county council has a website on which you can report problems with the highway. I anonymously reported a dangerous manhole cover outside our property and it was replaced within a week. That did however realte to the road drainage. It used to often be the case that the foul drainage was the responsibility of the user(s) up to the public main but this varies hugely.

[george (dicegeorge)]

xxxxx

[Phil L]

If someone tripped over a raised slab or pothole in the pavement outside your house, who would be held responsible?

It's not your responsibility, it's the council's, unless you *own* the strip of pavement in front of your house.

[Lobster]

Probably. How about the case of someone I knew who converted their front garden into a hard-standing for the car (might even have been done by the previous owner) and many years later got stuck with a compulsory and hefty bill for dropping the kerb of the adjacent pavement. I know it's a different scenario, but...

David

[chris French]

In message , "george (dicegeorge)" writes

I don't think it can be as simple as that. AIUI, I am responsible for the drains from our house until it reaches the public sewer, even when running under the pavement/road.

eg. in the picture on this webpage under 'Who is Responsible?' our house would be equivalent to No. 1

[chris French]

Hmm, not sure it might be as simple as that though.

AIUI, I am responsible for the drain until it reaches the sewer in the road outside - which could reasonably mean the manhole as well.

Yes, the council are responsible for the pavement. But if they find or are made aware of a problem with the cover, it could well be that they can pass the responsibility for the manhole cover onto me - either asking me too fix it, or fixing it and then passing the cost onto me.

[Phil L]

you understand incorrectly then, you are responsible for it until it exits your property, so if you open your door straight onto a pavement (which if I've read it correctly, you do) then the drains are the responsibility of the council, and this manhole is theirs too, regardless of who installed it and when.

They can't pass their responsibility onto anyone, it's theirs in law....what would they do if the house was empty? - they can't have pedestrians falling into open manholes and then plead that they couldn't establish who owned it!

[Phil L]

obviously built before 1st October 1937, and it would more likely be No2, ergo the drains are the responsibility of either the council or the water board.

[Steve Walker]

I've checked into this and we are definitely responsible for our combined foul and surface water drain until it joins the public sewer in the middle of the road - therefore if there is a problem, we will have to pay for a council approved contractor to fix it. Well actually that's not true in our case (just for the rest of the street) - we *would* be responsible,

*except* that our house is 1935, the neighbouring bungalow is 1934 and for some reason their kitchen shares our drain, even though they have their own drain on the other side, so a pre-1937 shared drain makes it the waterboard's responsibility (thank God as it collapsed in two places!)

In the OPs case, the manhole is part of what is likely to be his drain and therefore might well be his responsibility.

SteveW

[Dave Liquorice]

"For houses built before 1st October 1937 all pipework serving more than one property will normally be a public sewer ..."

IIRC this drain is not shared therefore it's a private drain and responsibilty of the householder until it reaches the public sewer.

Note that "shared" doesn't include more than one household on the same plot of land, see 18/18a in the diagram. 18/18a have full responsibilty for the parts that only drain their households (private drain) and shared responsibilty for the shared section (private sewer) that connects to the public sewer.