Can anyone help? We have just found out that one of our water pipes in on our neighbours land. We only found out when he told us that water was coming from the pipe and hence we now have a very large bill. Is there any come back on the neighbour for not informing us earlier or that our pipe was on his land? There is nothing on the deeds about this.
thank you in advance
jackie rice
It must be almost the only thing that has been in our favour since we bought this house, we have had problems with our electricity supply and the upgrades have been held up by one of neighbour's recalcitrant children.
We actually have the electrician here at the moment, after many promises) wiring the outside lights!
You're right, Andrew, Jane's really lucky. Our meter is buried nearly a metre underground, to stop it freezing, right next to the boundary of our land. Just reading the meter requires gymnastics of which I am no longer capable and bionic vision to read the figures.
Aren't you the lucky one! - I'm only jealous, very jealous, that would make life so much easier for us ;-)
Andrew, our meter is in the house!
Phew! got off that one Jane - in France they're very clear - you are responsable for everything after the meter regardless of where it's situated - mine's as far as you can get from our house and just off our land - 500 metres!!! :-(
When we were in UK and our fosse was being installed, the digger hit a water pipe and our neighbours were cut off for two hours. It was in our field and, therefore, between two water meters. I know we didn't pay the bill!
thank you everyone for comments I will let you know how it goes with the Marie
Spot on Terry - I've been meaning to get out there "ear to the ground" using a pole/stick (bloke at hte water company's suggestion), he frightened us off hiring the pro "listening" equipment as it costs a fortune and they don't have any at the commune - they deal with the local supply here. It's a long story but the pipe's been in the ground for 50 odd years now and really needs replacing which is why I haven't got round to just fixing it (we've got a couple of wells and one is good for most of the year, except this summer!, the rest of the time we just turn the mains on once a week and fill a huge tank... very heath robinson but it works!
Andrew, doesn't your plumber/water company have a sensitive microphone device with which to detect leaking water underground? They certainly use them to detect leaks in the mains under the road.
Sounds a nightmare Sarah, and the usual admin chaos, I wish ours was a case of drilling through to the meter but we've got nearly 500 metres of pipe!
@Andrew - I was furious at one point as the section of pipe running from the meter to my house is my responsibility but when we found the leak and had to repair it my local mairie told me that as we are in a listed village with listed cobble stones I needed to seek permission (ie let the leak continue for weeks as I applied to dig the pavement up). We ended up drilling a tunnel from my front wall to the meter in order to replace the pipe without touching the cobble stones.........thank god my plumber is a friend and thank god I put a lot of work his way otherwise the bill would have been horrendous. Oh and as for the insurance drama that came afterwards.....can't go into that or I will have to reach for my bottle of pastis
under the pavement - yes you can't do anything about it but on private property you can - that's the reaction of our water company, they wouldn't reduce the bill either as we've got a septic tank! But Sarah you're quite right the notaire who dealt with it should be able to help.
Bonne chance quand même !
Check with the notaire who represented you and see if he can help
As for the water bill most water companies will offer you a reduction (on consumption as well as sewage charges). I had an unnoticed leak that was found when my meter was read.........400m3 in two weeks from a pipe that ran from the meter to my building and was therefore under the pavement! My annual bill for usage and sewerage came to almost 2000e but they reduced it to 800e - far more than my usual bill but they were very understanding and allowed me to pay in installments.
Our water pipe runs over our neighbours land before the 400m section across our land to the house - ours has sprung a leak which we haven't found yet - alerted by a huge bill which has now been paid - it's very straight forward according to the two water authorities we contacted who came out and had a look (we're on the edge of both areas) - everything after the meter is yours and it's up to you to sort it out! as for informing you - I don't think you've got a leg to stand on - and to try and seek something from the neighbour sounds like a recipe for disaster to me - au revoir l'intégration !