Shared water pipe problem with a twist

[pugsport]

I live in row of terraced houses, looking at the front I'll number them 1,2,3,4, I live in number 2 between number 2 and 3 is a shared entry, the water supply pipe runs up the entry, branches off to the left and supplies me no.2 and did supply no.1, there is another branch from the entry that goes right to supply no.3+4. A leak has sprouted at no.4, but the current owner refuses to have it fixed. The "twist" is that over the years owners of 1,3+4 one by one have had their own supply, I am the only one on the original supply, unknown to all of us their old pipes are still fed water. house no.3 is suffering with pools of water in his backyard, the owner of no.4 is telling me I am responsible for fixing the leak, I argue that he is responsible for the pipework under his property. That house has been empty for 10months after his father passed away, the leak only began a couple of weeks ago after workmen started knocking the back end of the house around, it also turns out that the downstairs bathroom extension water waste was plumbed into an old "soaker" he has had workmen dig his yard up to plumb the waste into the sewer, then told them to fill the hole and re-slab. No one is living there so the problem does not directly affect him, he is now implying that he will sue me for damages if I dont fix what in effect is his leak! He even told the workmen to turn my water off!! Obviously I objected and came to a compromise that until he fixed the leak within a few days I was prepared to have the water off intermittently only turning it on to flush the loo or run a bath or do the washing, he agreed to that, he now comes round again today telling me I am not to turn the water on until I have fixed the leak. I have spent 3 hours tonight looking into this problem, I have spoken to a solicitor who seems to think that he is responsible for the pipe work but is unsure where we stand as it is a supply pipe that is effectively redundant to him.
At the moment our water pressure is a dribble it takes the loo 20 mins to fill, its pot luck if water gets to the top of the house to fill the immersion heater, the washer now wont work with such low pressure. Severn Trent don't want to know! I am sure the deeds will only show shared ownership of the pipe until it branches off under the various properties. This is a nightmare! I've gotta see if I can get better legal advice, but it seems unprecedented that it is "my" water supply causing the problem (according to owner no.4) but at the end of the day it's still his pipe work!

 

[Agile]

These are my thoughts based on common sense:-

Its not your property where the leak is located so not your responsibility.

Its not your pipe which is leaking.

Its not your water which is being wasted.

You want a water supply.

S-T do not want to help to resolve.

S-T have a legal responsibility to minimise leaks on their supplies.

You must ask them to stop the leak.

Furthermore, before the leak, the supply to 3 and 4 constituted a "deadleg" which is not permitted under the Water Regulations 1999.

If they refuse to do it themselves OR to serve a Notice on Owner No 4 then you can and will complain to OfWat.

In the meantime you should ask S-T to provide an independent supply at no cost to you, directly to your property, as a simple way to solve the problem.

Its all a storm in a teacup as digging up the pipe and capping it off is a very small cost. A fraction of the cost of talking to Tim Olerensure the solicitor.

Dig it up yourself and I will cap it off for £84 if the hole is dry.

Is it Clapham terrace?

Tony