Foul water connected to surface water drains

[nellski]

In January, United Utilities carried out drainage surveys on a lot of properties in my area to check for contamination of the surface water drains. They have written to me this week to tell me that, when I had a ground floor shower/basin/wc installed 9 years ago, it has been plumbed into the surface water drain. It looks to me that the architect drew up correct plans but the builder has fed into the surface water drains (which ran adjacent to the location of the shower room) rather than plumb into the foulwater drains. The council building inspector visited and approved all the below ground works. I am obliged to get this rectified but couldnt afford to do it myself and shouldnt have to pay when the error is not mine.

How do I get the builder/council to correct their errors and who do I approach first ?

 

[stem]

the architect drew up correct plans but the builder has fed into the surface water drains

So I assume from that, that the builder is in breech of contract by not working to the agreed plans. If so, you should get him back to correct it.

The council building inspector visited and approved all the below ground works.

The ground works sound OK to me, it's what is discharged into them that is the problem. I imagine the ground works were inspected before the builder connected the ground floor bathroom to them. So not really the inspectors fault.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Good luck getting the builder back after 9 years.

Did you pay by cheque and get a receipt?

Andy

 

[nellski]

CAB have told me this morning that theres nothing I can do legally apart from rely on the goodwill of the builder, cos its over 6 years since the work was done.

Are there any exceptions to this rule - would health and safety come into it because he has plumbed a toilet into drains that feed into a local brook ?

 

[nellski]

The groundworks are wrong because the builder should have constructed drains feeding from the shower room to the foul drain or to the sewer. He hasnt done this so the Council shouldn't have passed the work

 

[Nige F]

Are there any exceptions to this rule - would health and safety come into it because he has plumbed a toilet into drains that feed into a local brook ?

Into a Brook "I come from haunts of coot and hern - I make a sudden sally , and sparkle out amongst the fern to bicker down a valley " The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson AKA The song of the turd

 

[HERTS P&D]

How did you pay him, get you get a receipt?

 

[Onetap]

CAB have told me this morning that theres nothing I can do legally apart from rely on the goodwill of the builder, cos its over 6 years since the work was done.

About 30 years back (when I did a course on such stuff) i was told the liability for negligence was 15 years, or 5 years from the discovery of the negligence. So after 9 years, if you've got documents and the builder isn't dead, bankrupt or in liquidation, you would still be able to claim against him, or his insurers.

The law may have changed though; I've heard of the 6 years thing, but have never researched it. You'd need to speak to a solicitor. CAB are well-intentioned amateurs.

PS 'Latent damage' is the learned friends' jargon for this.

http://www.out-law.com/en/topics/dispute-resolution-and-litigation/limitation/limitation/

Unless the original builder is still trading, just get another to fix it. Your chances of a legal sucess are slim, IMHO.

PPS Reading that link, it seems that the 15 years liability applies only to 'contract under deed', which won't apply in your case. I don't have time to study it, see a lawyer.

 

[stem]

The groundworks are wrong because the builder should have constructed drains feeding from the shower room to the foul drain or to the sewer. He hasnt done this so the Council shouldn't have passed the work

The key to this is whether the bathroom waste was connected to the groundworks at the time of their inspection, or added later.To illustrate, if you took your car for an MOT test and it passed, then you cut through a brake pipe the next day, you can't blame the inspector, because there was nothing wrong when he inspected it.

Having said that, if the groundworks were not to the approved plans in that there wasn't any provision anywhere for a connection to the sewer at the time of inspection when there should have been, then you might have grounds for a claim, but there's still the time issue.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

What test been done to determine your drain are cross connected? At the moment you are assuming UU's word, not unknown for the Water Co's to get it wrong.....