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Good morning all,
I have posted this in the ‘Housing, Property and Neighbours’ section of the forum, but realise it probably should go here.
I apologise for the lengthy post in advance but there is a great deal of relevant information to share.
I have a vermin issue in my garden and loft.
I have seen rats coming from under my next door neighbours fence and scurrying across my garden. I have footage. I first saw them in my garden in April and made my neighbours aware at the time. Roll on to the beginning of June and my neighbours still hadn’t done anything about it. A few heated text messages were exchanged and they finally hired pest control through the council.
Council Pest Control came to their property and mine and carried out an inspection and I was told to expect them again on the 26th June, no one came. During the time between the first inspection and the 26th, I hired my own pest control. My pest control man wrote a report for my property and advised I called the local water authority for a drain survey.
I rang my local water authority and asked them if they were responsible for the drains serving my property and they were unable to tell me.
So, I removed the manhole cover and had a look at the drain myself. On inspection, the manhole cover broke in the corner. It is cast iron, has become brittle and is no doubt the original cover having been there for around 100years. I could also see that a thick root had penetrated the interior corner of the drain wall about 3-4ft down.
I dug out my flower bed on the exterior of the drain wall trying to find the offending root. It appears the root has nothing to do with my plants and is a root of my neighbours hedge which separates our front gardens. I didn’t plant the hedge and the hedge was not there when I purchased my house. I still have the original boundary wall which the hedge has pushed over.
I rang a private drain company believing the responsibility for the drain was mine and was advised they couldn’t touch the drain as they believed it was likely the responsibility of the local water authority. This company is CHAS accredited and a Trusted Trading Standards member.
Where does liability lie and who with in this situation?
I should add that I have Plumbing and Drainage Plus policy insurance with HomeServe but do not know if and how it can be used if I cannot confirm whose responsibility the drain is.
Any other advice greatly received.
Thank you.
I have posted this in the ‘Housing, Property and Neighbours’ section of the forum, but realise it probably should go here.
I apologise for the lengthy post in advance but there is a great deal of relevant information to share.
I have a vermin issue in my garden and loft.
I have seen rats coming from under my next door neighbours fence and scurrying across my garden. I have footage. I first saw them in my garden in April and made my neighbours aware at the time. Roll on to the beginning of June and my neighbours still hadn’t done anything about it. A few heated text messages were exchanged and they finally hired pest control through the council.
Council Pest Control came to their property and mine and carried out an inspection and I was told to expect them again on the 26th June, no one came. During the time between the first inspection and the 26th, I hired my own pest control. My pest control man wrote a report for my property and advised I called the local water authority for a drain survey.
I rang my local water authority and asked them if they were responsible for the drains serving my property and they were unable to tell me.
So, I removed the manhole cover and had a look at the drain myself. On inspection, the manhole cover broke in the corner. It is cast iron, has become brittle and is no doubt the original cover having been there for around 100years. I could also see that a thick root had penetrated the interior corner of the drain wall about 3-4ft down.
I dug out my flower bed on the exterior of the drain wall trying to find the offending root. It appears the root has nothing to do with my plants and is a root of my neighbours hedge which separates our front gardens. I didn’t plant the hedge and the hedge was not there when I purchased my house. I still have the original boundary wall which the hedge has pushed over.
I rang a private drain company believing the responsibility for the drain was mine and was advised they couldn’t touch the drain as they believed it was likely the responsibility of the local water authority. This company is CHAS accredited and a Trusted Trading Standards member.
Where does liability lie and who with in this situation?
I should add that I have Plumbing and Drainage Plus policy insurance with HomeServe but do not know if and how it can be used if I cannot confirm whose responsibility the drain is.
Any other advice greatly received.
Thank you.
