Advice please

[seanandruby]

just got in after long week and three hours on m25, so hope this makes sense. man knocked on my 80 year old ma-in-laws door and said..." you have a problem with your drains... and i require your house insurance details". he gave her a form to complete an told her there was a tree root in the drain and because it is a shared drain she will have to pay her share. A neighbour a few days ago said she had probs with her drains. mas drain is ok, the trouble is upflow. Wife phoned the drain cleaner office and requested the report which they will forward but said she is still liable. How much depends on there sliding scale of prices? Is she liable? as she is downflow to the supposed blockage and can they request insurance details? Can they enforce/demand payment. No one has seen the supposed CCTV video. I'm going to investigate her drain and the neighbours tomorrow. These bods are recommended by the local water authority. Seem a bit strong handed to me.

[lutonlagerlout]

sound like dogs to me sean,not sure of the legals but if anyone started knocking on my mum/nans door i would soon put them right
i would have thought the person with the tree has the problem not your mum,i can remember in an old house of mine there was some subsidence and the neighbours got a legal letter off of the engineers asking them to maintain their trees
cheers LLL

[Dave_L]

I'd at least want certified CCTV 'evidence' - and I'm sure the insurance guys would too.

Sort 'em out Sean!

[Tony McC]

It all depends on the covenant covering the drainage system. On the estate where I live, the drainage is assumed to be a "common drain" and if there is any blockage or breakage, then all properties connected to the affected drain are liable to pay a proportion of the repair cost. Several houses are council-owned and so, if there is a problem, there's a good chance it will be the council tea-drinkers that will come around, set up camp, pick out their bets for the day, and then spend ten minutes poking around before declaring it to be too big a job for them.

This pisses me off no end, as I end up paying one-fourteenth of the inflated repair cost when I know damned well that I could do the work myself (or get one of my cronies to do it) for less than my one-fourteenth share. The last time they were out, some dozy bint down the lane had been flushing Pampers nappies down the bog, caused a blockage, called the council, who then dreamed up a total charge of over 2 grand to jet the line and clear the nappies. Personally, I'd have had the bint in a boilersuit, down the manhole, pulling clear the blockage with her teeth, and then slap her around the head with the offending articles until she understood that "disposable" doesn't mean "flushable". Thankfully, she's since been shipped out to some seedy council estate in Warrington, where she can continue to breed and smoke and block drains at the taxpayers expense.

</end of rant>

So: check the legal status: it should be with the deeds, and get proof of the problem and the alleged repair work. You are entitled to an itemised bill - try not to be too shocked at their labour rate!

[flowjoe]

If the blockage is upstream of her connection then she should not be invoiced, it is only the parties that discharge into the defective section who should be affected.

If it is root ingress and she uses the problem section then her insurers will pick up the bill and she may have a £50 excess to pay. If the properties pre-date 1937 then it is the local authorities problem.

[seanandruby]

thanks for that guys. apparantly the woman from the drain firm reckons they cant force ma to pay. weve asked for the video etc. watch this space :;):

[Dave_L]

Good. Keep us posted Sean.