Hi guy's
Our drain runs from our garden to next door and away. It appears that the section on their ground has collapsed or at least particially blocked where the ground has dropped. Thus in less than 2 weeks I'm paddleless!
However as it's 'my' waste but the drain is on their land who's responsible??
Cheers
Richard
Joint drains - even on private property - may well be the responsibility of the water authority. IIRC, it depends on the age of the property.
When our shared drain became blocked, which runs down behind 18 properties before crossing the road to join the main drain, the site of the blockage, the work was administered by the Council because no one wanted to assume responsibility. They added 33% to the bill, then an 18th was billed to each household. FWIW the estate was constructed in the 50's
Andy
ISTR something about if its pre 1936 its down either the water board or the council
The message from "r.bartlett" contains these words:
Try a google. This sort of problem has been aired in the past.
FWIW I seem to remember that for shared drains to be public they must have been laid before some date in the 1930s, perhaps 1936 and that, if it is a private drain, all connected to it have a joint responsibility. Memory however is sometimes faulty.
Some years ago my father was in the same situation but on the opposite side of the fence. He shared the cost of repair with his neighbour even though the blockage was upstream of his connection. I would know whether the situation would be different had he not had a connection to the drain.
The first thing to do is see what your deeds or Land Registry entry says. You should also talk to your neighbour.
Peter Crosland
At our house in Cheltenham it was in the deeds that the eight houses sharing the sewer that ran along the back gardens would always share the costs of maintaining that sewer.
In any event why not just share the labour or the cost of getting someone in to solve the problem.
Non shared drains are always the responsibility of the homeowner to the point at which they meet the public sewer. Shared drains, which are properly called private sewers, are the complex bit.
Shared drains built prior to the implementation of the Public Health Act on
1st October 1937 are the responsibility of the local water company. Nothing whatsoever to do with the local council. Each house is still solely responsible for the part of its own drain prior to it joining someone else's drain and becoming a private sewer.Shared drains built post 1st October 1937 are the joint responsibility of the various homeowners unless the water company has 'adopted' them. It doesn't matter where in the shared system the blockage occurs. Everyone connected pays their share. Again each house is solely responsible for the part of its own drain prior to it joining the private sewer.
-- Dave Baker Puma Race Engines
If however an amicable solution can't be agreed, then it does become Council business from the Public Health perspective.
Andy
My dad had a similar problem when the sewer from his house collapsed under his neighbours drive. He managed to get his household insurance company to pay for the repair which had to be carried out from the manhole cover on his property because the neighbour wouldn't agree to having his paver brick driveway dug up. The insurance company paid for some sort of reamer to be put through the sewer and an inflatable sleeve was inserted and inflated in the sewer. The bill was huge but the insurance company paid up without any problem amazingly enough.
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