Shared private water pipe

[Phoebe]

I am the account holder for a water pipe shared by four properties. When I receive the invoice from the water company I read 3 of the meters accessible to me but the fourth is owned someone who has denied me access and has moved the meter three times and installed a new one without either taking a reading so it is claimed and the last meter reading is not possible (far too low). My questions are these : can a water meter be legally removed without informing the main account holder and should legally a meter reading have been taken at the time of removal? I am left paying for hundreds of units of water that have not been used by the rest of the site whilst my neighbour denies any responsibility despite extensive work to their property involving up to twenty builders and landscapers.
any advice would be warmly welcomed! Phoebe

[des8]

Hi and welcome
If the invoice is produced by the water company BEFORE you read the meters, how do they calculate the amount of water used on which to base the invoice?

[ostell]

Can you cut off the supply to the errant owner? That could concentrate the mind. If the site is being developed then I would think that would not be a problem

[des8]

Can you cut off the supply to the errant owner? That could concentrate the mind. If the site is being developed then I would think that would not be a problem

That might get OP in trouble with environmental health

[meellis]

If there are four water supplies and you can read three then take off the three you can read from the total bill and bill the fourth for the rest. They will then have to prove they haven't used that much. That sounds simple and workable unless there is something missing from your description of the issue. If you have one main meter which the water company bill to then you could be the responsible person for any secondary meters so you would have to look into any agreement you have with the supply of water. If you have no formal arrangement then maybe you should look into separating the supplies so you can never be held accountable to other peoples debts.

[des8]

meellis that's what I was working upto !!

[Phoebe]

Thank you for all your replies, they have been much appreciated. The water-pipe was put in by my father in the 1960s and renewed by me in 2000, I paid for the work. The pipe comes across cultivated land for a mile and a half, unfortunately I no longer own all the land so for individual supplies to be put in would be difficult for everyone and costly and unnecessary if everyone was helpful! The person refusing to pay maintains that the units on their meter are correct but as they failed to take any readings when they took the meter out and re-positioned it twice, I can’t prove they are absolutely wrong without the previous missing readings. They claim that they use less than a couple on the same site despite building work, irrigation and being a family of five! As all the other readings have been consistent, and no leak, I concluded the missing units must be attributable to the refuseniks. Which is why, as we all share the utilities and are responsible for them, I wanted to know if they are legally obliged to inform me if the meter is moved or destroyed and if legally they have to take a reading? They have a reputation for not paying tradesmen and so far no one has challenged them as they have a great deal of money to threaten and intimidate, which they are happy to do and put gagging orders in place when a settlement to their advantage has been reached.

[des8]

So you have a single supply line to your property which is metered
That supply is then sub divided into four, each of which is metered.
The arrangement is that you pay the supplier according to the primary meter, and then collect from the subsidiaries according to the secondary meters
Is that correct?.

What written agreements are there between you and the supplier, and you and the other users, the other users and the supplier?