adoption of water supply

[Corinne]

Does anyone know anything about the rules regarding the adoption of water supply in relation to the age of the property? The house was built in 1860 and my supplier is Thames Water. Following a leak (that TW have now fixed) in the supply pipe, my builder seems to think that they might hold responsibility even if the pipe ruptured on my land. (Not sure where the rupture was - waiting for the report!)

We suspect this is the primary cause of all the damp!!

 

[middi]

Not quite sure what you mean by adoption of water supply.

You find that TW will only hold themselves responsible for maintenance up to their water stop valve before it reaches your property.

 

[wobs]

As a general rule, it depends upon whether the leak is before or after the stop cock to the premises. Usually, if the leak is before the stop cock, its the water company's responsibilty.

It should say in the deeds to the house who owns the pipe and at what point the ownership ends.

Where it can get a bit hazy is where you have a shared stop cock between multiple properties.

 

[Penners]

Usually, if the leak is before the stop cock, its the water company's responsibilty.

Just to clarify, of course wobs is talking about the external underground stop-cock. Not the one in your house.

 

[Corinne]

Thanks to both. The info I received from my builder kind of indicated that while the above stop-cock rule is true for most later properties, in some instances the water authority has responsibility for pipes up to the house itself. They just don't like to admit it. (funny that). That is that the property never adopted responsibility for them - think that's it.

I'd like to know as much as I can because it may be I can claim for the water damage to the walls in my basement. TW have replaced the supply pipe on THEIR side of the stop-cock after I reported my concerns. I can only hope this has sorted out all the problem, if not...hmm..£££££