Access to neighbour's manhole

[demsoft]

Hi all
This isn't a DIY question as I'm useless at that sort of thing, but I was hoping that someone here would be able to help.
I have problems with my sewer pipes blocking on a regular basis - unfortunately they turned out to be pitch fibre, and excluded from my home insurance. I've been looking into getting the pipe re-rounded & lined, as excavation would be far too expensive.
The manhole covers on both my property and my neighbour's are inside our houses, underneath extensions built before either of us bought our properties. In order to carry out the repair we will need access to our neighbour's manhole in order to winch the rerounder through the pipework. Unfortunately he's now being difficult about this, as he's worried that his property might be affected if something goes wrong (he's had no flooding so far). We had a CCTV survey done, but the camera could only get a very short distance from either end because the pipe is flattened.
It seems unlikely to me that someone can effectively prevent me from repairing my own property for hygiene reasons - does anyone know the law on this?
If he's right and something DID go wrong, would I be responsible for paying for his repairs, or would it be covered either by his house insurance or by my repair company's 3rd party liability insurance?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mark

 

[Nige F]

I`ll tell you a true story - My M8 had drains that kept blocking . He found items in there that they didn`t use - Drain flowed from neighbour to M8 . Neighbour denied all knowledge and denied the drain ran across M8`s property etc. so he lifted a manhole and bunged the pipe - soon Dinah Rod appears next door . Operator calls on M8 and he tells op. Neighbour states ...... etc. Refuses access to property. Dinah goes away . M8 leaves it a day or 2 the pulls the bung . Never had a blockage since - or spoken to neighbour . Just a story that still makes me

 

[Ian H]

Could you not set up the rerounding equipment up in your manhole then all that would bee needed in his manhole would be the cable and rerounding bomb? Pitch fibre realy is horrible stuff, make sure they CCTV the drain before the liner goes in the check for unknown junctions etc...

If he's being very awkward i'm sure environmental heatlh would serve a notice on him.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I'd give Environmental Health a call, see if they can assist you. If they serve notice neighbour cant do much to stop the work.

Any reputable company should take all reasonable precautions to prevent any damage to property, be it yours or neighbours. If worst does happen their insurance should cover it, but ask to see a copy of the policy before they start work.

 

[mikric]

AFAIK everyone connected to a drain run has a legal responsibility over the maintenance of the run until it reaches the section covered/owned by the water board. Hence when a problem occurs environmental health will serve notice on everyone connected, if they appoint a contractor to fix the problem when notice has expired the bill is divided between the various users. I would contact environmental health as mentioned previously.