Shared downpipe

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Lancashire
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Hi,

Great site, always managed to find the info I'm looking for without posting, until now!

I live in a mid terrace and have a blockage in a downpipe which is situated between my house and my neighbours. It collects water from the main roof and from my bay window roof and my neighbours bay window roof. Its clearly a shared drain and, as the houses were built pre 1937, I was hoping it would be a section 24 drain and the responsibility of the local water company to come and unblock.

However, I've been told that things have recently changed re section 24 drains but havent been able to find much online and am still waiting for the local water company to return my call, their website isn't much cop either!

Does anyone have any up to date info?

Thanks!
 
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I havent read anything regarding a section 24 drain, but i would have thought a rainwater downpipe would be the responsibility of the homeowners.
correct me if i'm wrong.
 
Thanks,

From what I've read I think the downpipe still constitutes part of a section 24 drain, but even so, the blockage appears to be below ground level.

Its a cast iron downpipe that disappears into the ground. Just above the ground is a joint where two sections of pipe join together. There is a small leak at the joint which, when it rains and the hopper at the top of the downpipe is overflowing, the water spirts and hisses from the leak which indicates that it is under pressure. To me this suggests that the blockage is below the joint, as a blockage above the joint would relieve any pressure built up in the downpipe and the leak would be just a trickle rather than a pressurised flow.
 
Time to get the drainage rods out, it will be full of leaves this time of year.
 
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Thanks,

From what I've read I think the downpipe still constitutes part of a section 24 drain,.

Where have you read that?

Section 24 sewers have always been the responsibility of the water authority, and there is lots of info online about the responsibility for other private drains being passed to the water authority as from 1st October this year
 
Where have you read that?

There's a lot of websites with breif explaniations, but none that I've seen really go into enough detail. Having said that, as the rules regarding section 24 drains changed in October(?), they would all appear to be out of date anyway!

I've been able to speak to someone at the local water authority who are sending someone round to take a look, but, being the cynic that I am, I reckon that if there is any doubt they'll pin the responsibility on me!
 
Why not? It's your house. :rolleyes:

If its my responsibility then fair enough, but do I just take their word for it?

If I took my car back to the dealer to have a problem looked at and they told me it wasn't covered under its warranty & I'd have to pay to have it fixed, I wouldn't just take their word for it. I'd either check my warranty details or get a second opinion just to make sure they weren't trying to pull a fast one.

So, going back to my original post, and despite finding breif ambiguous details on various websites, does anyone know where I might be able to find some definitive information on what constitues a shared drain?
 
Any drain, or part of a drain shared by two different landowners and connected to the public sewer is now the responsibility of the water authority.

A section of drain (known as a lateral drain) which branches off to an individual property, or the end of a drain run serving the first single property in the run, is still the responsibility of the landowner

All the water company websites have the info and it's all over google

www.ccwater.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.1278
 

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