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Lost Water Due To Leak


Carryon Regardless

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Back to the 5 Prestatyn flats again.

Welsh Water have just been on having discovered a leak on the consumer side of the walkway buried meters.

Today they have been to take a final reading for a departing T so spotted it then I guess.

They are happy to do a free repair even though it's on the consumer side, a pleasant surprise, but needed permission from the land owner to dig. Although I'm only not the freeholder I gave consent anyway.

Now I wonder who has liability for the cost of the lost water that will have been billed for some time. The obvious way to attempt to find how long is to see when water usage rose significantly.

In truth I'm not too concerned here but the point is interesting.

I don't see Welsh Water to be responsible for a refund as the leak is on the consumer side.

I don't see I have liability as there is no reason I should have known, as no one has raised the issue, so couldn't been expected to act.

I guess the same applies to the free holder on that principle.

Is this down to which ever T as they should have realised they were being over billed? Although I'm not sure they can be expected to know this, especially in these days of over charging and holding credit 'for us' by the utilities.

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Tenant.....they are the consumer, they are the ones getting billed, they are the ones responsible for the meter and taking readings & checking consumption.

HOWEVER.....as you might expect, they won't like it. Would any of us ? But s**t happens.

The leak is nothing to do with you but you should contact the freeholders or their managing agents NOW. They will want the leak fixed but they will also want an assurance that the land will be reinstated to its original condition. They certainly won't expect to have to go and carry out tidying up/ repairs to the surfaces after its been repaired.....if they do, you might find its you that gets billed & not the service charge account. When a similar thing happened to me they got a written guarantee of sorts from my local water company.

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The work was ongoing as I wrote, I expect finished by now??

With the workmen on site and their manager requesting permission to carry out excavations for repair it made little sense to refer the manager to the remote freeholder, who may then decide to raise charges for managing the situation anyway.

As we stand the freeholder is unlikely to even become aware as clearly Welsh Water hadn't done their research to ascertain the true land owner. Instead they decided to ask some guy who was passing for their verbal authorisation, that was me btw, but maybe I have that wrong as already my memory isn't clear on this.

Anyway effectively they have done the works at their own risk.

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If Welsh Water do not offer an allowance to cover cost of leakage (they may do), then whoever is billed for water should attempt to claim on their house or contents insurance. I have successfully done so. Obviously some evidence would be required to prove a case for the amount to be claimed in relation to normally expected usage.

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Paying for wasted water

Did you know that you may be able to avoid paying for any water you consume as a result of a supply pipe leak? However, there are a number of requirements and exceptions, and utility suppliers have their own terms and conditions for 'leak allowances', so you will have to contact your water company to find out what you are entitled to.

In most cases, you should be able to recover some or all of the bill if:

  • You reported the leak to your utility company shorty after you notice it
  • Your leak is repaired within a set number of weeks
  • You make the claim for allowance quickly

You may not be able to receive an allowance if:

  • The leak was caused by your negligence
  • You have already received a leak allowance for a water supply leak at the same property (some utility suppliers will give you two or three leak allowances per property)
  • The utility supplier told you that your water supply line appeared to be leaking but you took no action
  • The leak is coming from other pipes or fittings

Source: https://www.247homerescue.co.uk/home-emergency-cover/how-to-tell-if-your-water-supply-pipe-is-leaking

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