Private sewer problems with the local counci; - Private sewer owenership and upkeep

[swazibelle]

Came across your site whilst searching for information on private sewers and found your site very informative and wondered if any of your reads could help. We're in a cul da sac, with four houses leading into (I believe) one private sewerage pipe which according to the council is our private sewer and the sole responsibility of the house owners -however, problems have been going on since after the properties were built in 1971 - the council has for the last 39 years been sending out its tankard to draw off when the drains overflows - this has been a regular occurance of maybe once twice a year in the past now, now over the last year, things are much worse with them drawing off every week - been recently served with a 45 day deadline to get the sewer fixed... does anyone know if they can be held liable for sending crews of people into our sewer without telling us, also should they be accountable for the last 39 years..... hoping someone will have had something similar and could offer some advice -surely the council should have deal with this in the early 70's when it first started ...apparently there was a countil vote to hand over the system to Thames Water but no one can find 'those' minutes....

[irishpaving]

Sounds like you need to get the drain problem sorted asap. You and your neighbours are liable. You are also liable for the last 39 years but councils dont really react if theres only a couple of visits in a year. Now that there seems to be a major problem if a tanker is required to draw off on a weekly basis the council will refuse to foot the bill. Have all the properties on the private sewer received this letter.

[flowjoe]

To clear and maintain a defective `whatever` for 39 years would in any civilised society suggest some sort of ownership, unless the council tanker driver lives at the end of the road that is.

I have been carping on about the shared drainage transfer in 2011 for a while on this site and this sounds like the local water authority passing on a known risk before the transfer takes place

(I will bring my earlier post about the transfer to the top of `The craic` section rather then bore you with the details now)

You need to find out the cause of the problem (probably pitch fibre pipework) and get some costs for repairs, speak to your insurers and see if you are covered.

In the mean time get something in writing off your local authority as to why they have maintained the system for so long and why they are now walking away from it, if they have to put something in writing they have to be very careful how they approach it.

Whatever the outcome it is probably worth you and your neighbours approaching the water services ombudsman regarding the water authorites responsibility over the system.

HTH

[irishpaving]

Haven't noticed that post HTH... Will be joining the list and letting others know also

Irish