Dispute over who owns the water pipe supplying our house

[d000hg]

Our house is set back from the water main about 100m up a private lane (owned by the council). To the best of our knowledge the pipe running up the lane is the original one - the house dates from 1880 though I don't know when it got running water. But I think it's an old, large metal pipe like 2-3".

Talking to our local water utility company, they claim they have no record of the pipe up the lane - we wanted to know where it is - and that we own it. That's a lot of very old pipe to be responsible for especially considering it isn't on our land. We can't even get to the water main since it's buried under a pavement on the main road (nobody seems to know where exactly).

Does anyone here know anything about this stuff? Is it something we should be able to challenge or is their word law? I wondered if the fact it's not on the records might just be because it predates their records.

THanks for any thoughts.

 

[D_Hailsham]

If the council own the freehold of the land, I would have thought that they also owned the pipe. If not, there should be documents in their reords when they gave permission for the pipe to be laid on their land.

Do you have the deeds to your house going back to when it was built? There may be something in them about water supply.

You could also try your local Archives Department (normally the County Council) to see what records they hold.

 

[d000hg]

We don't have any original deeds though my wife has visited the archive office looking for them before... they might be there we think but not easy to find.

I don't think our local council existed when the house was built. Further, the private lane was not always owned by the council. Formerly it belonged to the Coal Board.

Thinking ahead, if we did ever have to get this sorted out it would be a big job to dig a 100m trench. The gas supply runs up the lane too. Would it be possible to run modern plastic pipe up the old metal one?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Quite possible, YOU own and are responsible for the pipe, and have what is known as an 'Easement' to allow that pipe to pass under land owned by others, which also grants you the right of access to maintain said pipe. Any Easement granted should have transferred with the sale/transfer of the Land and should remain valid for as long as the property remains. The Water Company rarely are responsible for any communication pipe or sun main once it leaves the Public Highway onto private property.

As for replacing, if the pipe only serves your property, then it should be possible to insert a new plastic pipe inside the existing, provided it is deep enough and of sound enough condition to allow an insertion. The Water Company will have the final say though, all new connections have to be approved before they will connect to the main.

 

[d000hg]

Thanks, that makes sense.

This all comes about because we are putting a log cabin in our garden, about half-way up the private lane - so approx 50m from the highway and probably 30m from the nearest corner of the house. It needs to be fully kitted out with electricity and water (no gas); electricity we've sorted already.

The cabin will be right next to where the pipe runs (about 10m across our lawn) but the guy who came out today seemed to say they wouldn't T off this existing pipe for a new connection, instead a brand new connection to the water main would be required. Which turns it from a tiny job to a very big one. He mentioned things like reduced water pressure, etc.

And we're fairly sure we're not allowed to run a pipe down from our house off the existing supply, since the cabin is "a new entity".

 

[bernardgreen]

Is your water supply on a meter ? If so then where is the meter ? As I understand it any pipe work after the meter is yours and can have a T fitted if you need one.

Also have you made arrangements for the drainage of waste from the cabin into the sewer system ? ( Unless on septic tank ).

 

[d000hg]

Is your water supply on a meter ? If so then where is the meter ? As I understand it any pipe work after the meter is yours and can have a T fitted if you need one.

It is, the meter is fitted at the house i.e. right at the far end of the lane/pipe.
Pipework after the meter is definitely ours but I thought, the UK being what it is, that they can dictate what we can and cannot do. e.g. if I wanted to run water to my garage and AirBnB it, they might not allow that from the same meter?

Also have you made arrangements for the drainage of waste from the cabin into the sewer system ? ( Unless on septic tank ).

Good point, though we are on a Septic Tank.

 

[Ian H]

I’ve done jobs recently where they have owned hundreds of meters of pipework along main roads and side roads. Seems stupid to me.

If you live in a standard house and your meter/stop tap is 1mtr into the footpath they will dig up the 1mtr to check the leak isn’t on their pipe.

If you live in a house where the stoptap is 400mtrs up the road you can get stuffed. To me that isn’t fair.