Leaking external stopcock - South Staffs responsibility?

[alex7783]

Hi there, i'm new to the forum but am hoping somebody could provide some advice on the following problem

Have recently purchased an end terrace cottage with a shared water supply. Last night we got back from work to find that we had no water. south staffs eventually agreed to come out and investigate, origionally refused claiming that the problem couldn't be theirs as it was a shared supply. The engineer found that tbe valve, supposed to have a meter attached, was sticking - problem solved! However since then we have had very low water pressure.

During his investigation he found an old external stopcock about, 3 ft within the boundary, and turned on and off to test. This stopcock is now leaking, which would explain the drop in pressure.

Is this stopcock the responsibility of the homeowners?

I suspect that it is an early mains stopcock that has now been superseeded by a new mains stopcock in the pavement. Each property also has an individual internal stopcock.

I understand that the responsibility for the water supply lies with South Staffs up to the stopcock. Would the installation of a new stopcock within the pavement have transferred responsibility for the origional over to us? Or should South Staffs still repair, even though it lies within the boundary?

Many thanks in advance

Alex

 

[easyt]

I know that our (and at least one other) water authorities will excavate to a leak and repair one leak free of charge within the home owners grounds (I think one every 3 years). They wont reinstate driveways etc but will backfill and compact. If not I would argue that they played with it, it was an old redundant tap and they damaged it. If they all work to the same code of practice I would have thought that they would repair anyway. Look at their website. The two I looked at (I thought I had a leak) gave that information as confirmed by my authority..

 

[easyt]

Looked at your authority website. They offer a one off free repair or a £300 contribution to replacing the full supply pipe within your boundary.

 

[Reg Man]

Anything within your boundary is your responsibility. if the water company tamper with fittings within your property boundary and caused damage, then I think you have some recourse against them. Reason being, they have tampered with the fitting which is outside of their responsibility You can't have your cake and eat it, comes to mind.

 

[easyt]

I would go with your approach Reg Man.
Speak to them nicely though Alex. You will catch more flies with honey ...... .