Advice on blocked communal drain in Neighbors property

[FFCForever]

Hi,
I have a partially blocked drain under a neighbours property, which used to be a communal drain that ran along the back of both our our houses before our extensions were built.

Dynarod came out and said it looks like a bit of plastic guttering in the drain or something similar but because it was under their property i wasn't covered by the contract i had (Homecare 300).

When the neighbour had their extension built they moved their drainage around their extension but for some reason completely forgot about or didnt care about ours using the same pipe which still flows under their property and the blockage is in this section.

I have no idea how long this plastic has been there, could have been years, but it will need to get removed.

To do this, Dynarod said there would need to be a hole dug down into their driveway to get the blockage out.

What im not sure about though is who is responsible for getting this done? Is it us or should they be contacting their insurance company as its a blockage under their property? The neighbors think that they are not responsible as they are no longer using the pipe.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[^woody^]

Contact the water authority who are now responsible for shared drains

Or contact the council environmental health dept who can enforce action

 

[FFCForever]

Thanks for the advice, but would the water authority deal with a drain under a house?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

How does that stand up now though ^woodchip^ as the drain was shared but is now private?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Get it jetted out!



Andy

 

[FFCForever]

Already been tried unfortunately..

 

[^woody^]

How does that stand up now though ^woodchip^ as the drain was shared but is now private?

The section of drain outside the OP's property is a lateral drain, and the responsibility of the water authority.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

The section of drain outside the OP's property is a lateral drain

 

[FFCForever]

So a drain that runs right at the back along both houses is a lateral drain? Incidentally, would the fact we are in Scotland make a difference?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Ahh OK (so after bit of googling ) ^woodplop^ so what you're saying is that any private drain outside of you boundary (as in the OP's in this case) is also under the wing of the water companies. Maybe I need a career change!

 

[^woody^]

Maybe I need a career change!

Or more leotards

 

[^woody^]

Incidentally, would the fact we are in Scotland make a difference?

Yes, it might make a big difference.

The above posts related to England and Wales, I'm not sure about Scotland

It might be worth still checking at the council though

 

[paulf1976]

Looking at Scottish Water website shared drains appear to be their responsibility so a quick call to your local WA will likely result in them sorting your blockage out.