Shared mains supply iron pipes

[blackgothic]

Hi

i live alongside the A51 in a victorian terraced house of five cottages. The problem i have is that the mains water pipe which is made of iron comes through my back garden and comes through my kitchen floor as my house is the first one it feeds with a branch coming off for my supply with the mains pipe carrying on up the wall above head height then going across the top of my kitchen wall and then going through into next door and each terraced cottage with it branching off for each cottage.
The pipe is in a poor state and i have tried to paint it to make it look better but sometimes the paint blisters with the condensation and it looks even worse.
The problem is i need to replace my stopcock but i doubt any plumber would want to touch the job as if i need to turn the water off i have to use the mains stopcock down the garden which turns the whole row of cottage off.
There is a relatively new mains already laid to the front of the propertys on the opposite side of the A51 about ten meters away.
Am i responsible for the pipe that comes through my kitchen which dissapears through the wall into next door.
If i want to get connected to the new mains to the front of the property and have the old pipes taken away how do the other cottages still get their mains water supply

 

[Sparkgap]

Depends on what legal agreements there are for the water supply. If there are none I suppose you could just chop off the pipe and get a new supply from the road but you might not be too popular with your neighbours!
I'm in an end terrace of 6 which used to all be fed from a pipe running from a single S/C at the front down the side and along the back. My house had its own supply put in before I moved in but the rest were still on the 100yr old iron which ran UNDER the kitchen extensions at the back. Next door decided to remodel their kitchen and rotten pipe broke off at floor level under the sink, so no means of turning it off except for the whole row of houses. Banged in a bit of wood as a plug and they had to use my outside tap for a few weeks! They got a new mains supply in from the front and asked the other 4 if they wanted to get new supplies in so the old pipe could be cut off. 1 refused as he reckoned there was nothing wrong with the pipe, so next door said to hell with it and dug a new pipe in from the side alley through my back yard and his and reconnected in to their neighbours supply in their yard so we're on our own supplies while the other 4 are still on the dodgy old main. Incidentally, the one who'd refused moaned that the crap washed through when the water was turned on again has blocked the feed to his washing machine and burnt it out. Ahhhh! :smartass:

I'd suggest having a word with your neighbours about getting new supplies run to all the cottages which would be best for all of you, but that's assuming everybody plays ball.

 

[plumben]

As above depends what agreements there are with the water supplier,
But id send everyone a letter with a 1-3 month advanced warning that you will be getting a new main and wont be connecting back to the old main leaving them with no water