Shared Water Supply

[jnnbrns]

We are on a shared supply with my neighbour. There was a leak in my neighbour's garden which resulted in us not having any water and our neighbour suffering from reduced pressure. He called the plumbers out and arranged for the leak to be repaired without advising us that we would be responsible for part of the cost. we were never shown an estimate or advised how much the work would cost until he appeared on my doorstep demanding half the cost of the bill amounting to �750. Please can you advise whether my neighbour's actions were illegal in that he did not give us any choice about what options were available i.e. we may have sought to have our supply separated or used a different plumber to carry out the repair. I am also not entirely sure what part of the water supply is shared and what we are liable for.

[Annlinda]

Similar thing happened at a house I owned only it was a blocked drain. The neighbour called in Dynarod without consulting us. We refused to pay because they should have consulted us.
I would think carefully before shelling out �750.00.
�1500.00 sounds a lot to pay for a simple leak.

[samuel23]

Sorry but I have to say that �1,500 doesn't sound a lot at all. Most plumbers charge about �40 per hour and if the garden had to be dug up then this may have involved the hiring of equipment such as a compressor/road drill (for instance, if the leak was under a concrete drive) or the hire of a mini digger. It depends if the leak had to be found (i.e. the whole length of the garden had to be dug up) or was it obvious where it was?
This is why the water companies bombard us with 'buy our insurance and it'll save you money' leaflets. They may be annoying and unwanted, but I've never met someone who has had to claim that thinks they are a bad idea!!

[yesmadam]

Get hold of your water company and find out where the water pipes are for a start. They should be able to supply that info. Do you have all your plans from when you bought the property still? Hold out until you find out whether you are responsible for that leak.
We are also on a shared supply, but we are responsible for the pipes on our land.
We have taken out insurance but have discovered our own buildings insurance covers the pipes too.....

[waterboy]

I work for northumbria water and we offer at least one free repair on a customers service pipe also if the water pressure is deemed to be poor due to a shared supply
we would split the service free of charge

[bednobs]

when a similar thing happened to me, it was covered in the buildings insurance