Residential property - New regulations in force

From 1 July 2011 new regulations transfer ownership of private sewers and lateral drains to the statutory undertakers (e.g. Anglian Water).  This affects all houses connected to a public sewer.

Sewers constructed prior to October 1937 were, under the Public Health Act 1936, automatically adopted as public sewers and are maintained by water and sewerage companies.  The likely intention of the 1936 Act was that all new sewers should be adopted but this has not happened and, as a result, there are many unadopted private sewers and drains.

Many unadopted sewers are owned by householders who are unaware of their responsibilities and liabilities.  The repair and maintenance of private sewers can be expensive and, where they are shared, it can be difficult to recover costs from those who use them but are unaffected by the problems.  The result is hardship for some who have to bear the cost of repair, as well as disputes among neighbours and with the local water and sewerage company.

The Government considers this has left the country with many thousands of kilometres of private sewers that may be in a poor state and could cause collapses and blockages.  Therefore, the Government has decided that private sewers and lateral drains would be better maintained and repaired if they formed part of the public sewer network.  The new regulations provide for the transfer of all private sewers and lateral drains to the local water and sewerage companies.  This will place post-1937 owners on the same footing as pre-1937 owners and, therefore, end the inequity where private sewer owners pay not only for the maintenance of their sewers but also, through their sewerage charges, for the upkeep of pre-1937 sewers, which are maintained by the water and sewerage companies.

A private sewer is a pipe that carries rainwater and/or waste water away from more than one property to the public sewer.  A lateral drain is a pipe that carries rainwater and/or waste water  away from a single property.  Thousands of lateral drains run beneath roads and are not easy to fix.

However, not all sewers and drains will be transferred.  The exceptions include:

• private drains within the property boundary
• surface water drains that drain to watercourse
•  land drainage and highway drainage privately owned sewage treatment works and pipes connected to them
• privately owned septic tanks/cesspits
• large “multi-owner” commercial sites private sewer and/or lateral drains of owners who appeal against the transfer

The expected transfer date is October 2011.  Initially, private sewage pumping stations will not be transferred, but it is proposed that these will be transferred by no later than 1 October 2016.  The local water and sewerage company must, by law, inform all its customers about the change.  They will not know the location of the private sewers and lateral drains as they are not currently mapped but they will write to all customers who are connected to the public sewerage network.

Who will pay for the extra cost involved in maintaining and repairing the transferred sewers and lateral drains?  The answer, of course, is the customer who will pay an estimated £3 to £14 extra per year in their water bills, although obviously this depends on the expenditure incurred by the water and sewerage company.  In the short term the priority will be to deal with essential  maintenance, repair or replacement.

In general, subject to the exceptions mentioned, the transfer applies to both residential and commercial properties.

Further information can be obtained from the Water UK website: www.water.org.uk

For further advice, contact Kurt Goddard  01206 217391 - email [email protected] or David Temperton 01206 217310 - email [email protected]