https://www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/whose-pipe-is-it/ Here is the website. It's bonkers what it says. My water metre is under the kitchen sink so when it says "Your water meter and its connections also belong to us and we’ll take care of any repairs or replacements.", technically my external stoptap is connected to it. So who knows...
Yeah, that’s confirming what I thought. The stopcock in the street is their responsibility. Any pipe that is within your property boundary is your responsibility apart from the water meter (and it’s direct connections) which falls back to the water company to maintain.
So my external stoptap outside my front door, should be my responsibility, right? If so, why did Yorkshire Water say they're responsible for it? Is it because my water metre is in my kitchen, so as the external stoptap comes before it, it's their responsibility? I know some properties have their water metres outside under the manhole cover.
It’s difficult to be certain, but where I’m located, the underground stopcock is normally located in the pavement and beyond the boundary of the property. When you say your underground stopcock is outside your front door, is that still in your front garden or drive, or does your front door lead directly on to the street?
Outside my door is an approx.10 foot path (where the stoptap is) that then leads on to the public footpath.
Hmm, it certainly appears that they are saying that the stopcock is your responsibility in that case. I’ve had a couple of occasions in the past when there has been a problem with seized or leaking stopcocks in my customer’s driveways and our local water company fixed them without charge.
Also forgot to add, at the very bottom near the footpath is another stoptap cover but when I lift it it's full of soil. It's like it didn't work so they fitted the current one. Must've been Yorkshire Water who did that.
Like I say, the email and Twitter messages I got from them both confirm it's their responsibility but if you go by the website it points that it's my responsibility. Maybe because my house is older it falls under a difference category that makes it their responsibility and the website is for a more common layout which makes it the homeowners responsibility. Might just contact them asking to see if they'll check to see if it's in working order. What do I have to lose?
Actually, that’s not unusual, I’ve had to dig out soil from several stopcock chambers to find the tap. They can fill up with dirt simply by being carried down by rainwater or even ants.. dig it out and take a look.
So why is there two on my footpath? My neighbour's only have one each. I strongly feel the one at the bottom with the high soil is now defunct, as it's literally level with the path. I do have some soil in the current one with the tap head sticking out.
It’s unlikely that if one failed, they’d dig another one to replace it. They’d simply repair the one that had failed, surely?
You'd think so but I'd understand it if I only had the one but I have the two. Now you could say the one with all the mud is a shared one but like I say both my neighbours to my left and right of me both have just one stoptap each.
I suspect a misunderstanding or miscommunication somewhere along the line, maybe as to which stop tap is being referenced to. Different water companies do have different rules though, but I suspect it will be your responsibility if it is within your boundary. We have had leaks on our supply pipe which runs under a neighbours driveway but Severn Trent have always insisted on it being our responsibility as it is after their main stop tap in the pavement. My outside stop tap access was full of mud and tap is seized. If your inside one works I would leave the outside underground one well alone as I fear it could be a big job if you mess with it and it fails......
There's a massive misconception. I'm going to guess when they say external stop taps that is the homeowners responsibility these could be ones for a garden tap, a garage, a summerhouse, an allotment etc. The one that is their responsibility is the one that's sat on the top of the pipe underground that feeds the mains into the house?
Have you not had your external stoptap replaced? How did they rectify the leak under the drive? How did you even know that was leaking as it's far underground?
It is not that far underground. Probably about two foot. And they test for leaks every now and again with their magic listening devices. This has happened twice in the last few years now and the supply is shared between four houses. I have seen the leaks and the second leak was obvious. Unfortunately one of the middle houses is council owned so the tenants couldn't care less as the council will pay their quarter of the bill. This prevents us getting together and doing a proper full length new pipe installation. The water company just put a new piece in to sort the leak and nothing more. The driveway is in large slabs of concrete but it is broken up and the family unfortunately cannot afford to have it re-done. They are friends too. 2020 cost us £863.92 (split ~ 4) and 2021 cost £461.80 again split ~ 4......... IIRC there was a southern water company that carries out this type of work free for it's customers, hence me saying that different water companies may have different rules.