Question 1

Who is responsible for a blocked drain my downpipe runs into?

Accepted Answer

Very possibly not you. Since 1 October 2011, drains and sewers shared between properties transferred to the water company — so in a terrace, where your drain joins next door's before reaching the sewer, a blockage past that junction is normally United Utilities' to clear at no cost to you. This is one of the more useful things a homeowner in a terraced street can know, and people pay privately for the work regularly without realising they did not have to. The change happened on 1 October 2011, when private sewers and lateral drains that served more than one property transferred to the statutory water and sewerage companies. Before that date, a shared drain running down the back of a terrace was the joint responsibility of every household connected to it, and getting anything done about a blockage meant negotiating with the neighbours. After it, that shared section belongs to the water company. The practical dividing line is where your drain joins somebody else's. The section that serves only your property, inside your boundary, remains yours. From the point where it becomes shared — or where it crosses your boundary — it is generally the water company's. So a blockage in the gully directly under your downpipe is likely yours; a blockage further down, past where next door's drain joins, is likely theirs. It matters for roofing because rainwater downpipes discharge into those gullies. A gully that keeps backing up and overflowing is regularly assumed to be a drainage job the homeowner has to pay for, when a phone call to United Utilities would get somebody out to look at it for nothing. The right sequence is: clear and check the parts that are obviously yours — the gutter, the downpipe, the gully grating and the trap. If those are clear and it is still backing up, ring the water company before ringing a drainage contractor with a jetter. They will tell you whether the section is theirs, and if it is, they will deal with it. One thing to be careful of: some drainage companies market heavily to householders with backed-up drains and do not volunteer that the section might not be the householder's responsibility. It costs nothing to make the call first.

Question 2

Shared drain responsibility

Accepted Answer

Very possibly not you. Since 1 October 2011, drains and sewers shared between properties transferred to the water company — so in a terrace, where your drain joins next door's before reaching the sewer, a blockage past that junction is normally United Utilities' to clear at no cost to you. This is one of the more useful things a homeowner in a terraced street can know, and people pay privately for the work regularly without realising they did not have to. The change happened on 1 October 2011, when private sewers and lateral drains that served more than one property transferred to the statutory water and sewerage companies. Before that date, a shared drain running down the back of a terrace was the joint responsibility of every household connected to it, and getting anything done about a blockage meant negotiating with the neighbours. After it, that shared section belongs to the water company. The practical dividing line is where your drain joins somebody else's. The section that serves only your property, inside your boundary, remains yours. From the point where it becomes shared — or where it crosses your boundary — it is generally the water company's. So a blockage in the gully directly under your downpipe is likely yours; a blockage further down, past where next door's drain joins, is likely theirs. It matters for roofing because rainwater downpipes discharge into those gullies. A gully that keeps backing up and overflowing is regularly assumed to be a drainage job the homeowner has to pay for, when a phone call to United Utilities would get somebody out to look at it for nothing. The right sequence is: clear and check the parts that are obviously yours — the gutter, the downpipe, the gully grating and the trap. If those are clear and it is still backing up, ring the water company before ringing a drainage contractor with a jetter. They will tell you whether the section is theirs, and if it is, they will deal with it. One thing to be careful of: some drainage companies market heavily to householders with backed-up drains and do not volunteer that the section might not be the householder's responsibility. It costs nothing to make the call first.

Question 3

Is my drain United Utilities' responsibility?

Accepted Answer

Very possibly not you. Since 1 October 2011, drains and sewers shared between properties transferred to the water company — so in a terrace, where your drain joins next door's before reaching the sewer, a blockage past that junction is normally United Utilities' to clear at no cost to you. This is one of the more useful things a homeowner in a terraced street can know, and people pay privately for the work regularly without realising they did not have to. The change happened on 1 October 2011, when private sewers and lateral drains that served more than one property transferred to the statutory water and sewerage companies. Before that date, a shared drain running down the back of a terrace was the joint responsibility of every household connected to it, and getting anything done about a blockage meant negotiating with the neighbours. After it, that shared section belongs to the water company. The practical dividing line is where your drain joins somebody else's. The section that serves only your property, inside your boundary, remains yours. From the point where it becomes shared — or where it crosses your boundary — it is generally the water company's. So a blockage in the gully directly under your downpipe is likely yours; a blockage further down, past where next door's drain joins, is likely theirs. It matters for roofing because rainwater downpipes discharge into those gullies. A gully that keeps backing up and overflowing is regularly assumed to be a drainage job the homeowner has to pay for, when a phone call to United Utilities would get somebody out to look at it for nothing. The right sequence is: clear and check the parts that are obviously yours — the gutter, the downpipe, the gully grating and the trap. If those are clear and it is still backing up, ring the water company before ringing a drainage contractor with a jetter. They will tell you whether the section is theirs, and if it is, they will deal with it. One thing to be careful of: some drainage companies market heavily to householders with backed-up drains and do not volunteer that the section might not be the householder's responsibility. It costs nothing to make the call first.

Question 4

Blocked gully in a terrace

Accepted Answer

Very possibly not you. Since 1 October 2011, drains and sewers shared between properties transferred to the water company — so in a terrace, where your drain joins next door's before reaching the sewer, a blockage past that junction is normally United Utilities' to clear at no cost to you. This is one of the more useful things a homeowner in a terraced street can know, and people pay privately for the work regularly without realising they did not have to. The change happened on 1 October 2011, when private sewers and lateral drains that served more than one property transferred to the statutory water and sewerage companies. Before that date, a shared drain running down the back of a terrace was the joint responsibility of every household connected to it, and getting anything done about a blockage meant negotiating with the neighbours. After it, that shared section belongs to the water company. The practical dividing line is where your drain joins somebody else's. The section that serves only your property, inside your boundary, remains yours. From the point where it becomes shared — or where it crosses your boundary — it is generally the water company's. So a blockage in the gully directly under your downpipe is likely yours; a blockage further down, past where next door's drain joins, is likely theirs. It matters for roofing because rainwater downpipes discharge into those gullies. A gully that keeps backing up and overflowing is regularly assumed to be a drainage job the homeowner has to pay for, when a phone call to United Utilities would get somebody out to look at it for nothing. The right sequence is: clear and check the parts that are obviously yours — the gutter, the downpipe, the gully grating and the trap. If those are clear and it is still backing up, ring the water company before ringing a drainage contractor with a jetter. They will tell you whether the section is theirs, and if it is, they will deal with it. One thing to be careful of: some drainage companies market heavily to householders with backed-up drains and do not volunteer that the section might not be the householder's responsibility. It costs nothing to make the call first.

Who is responsible for a blocked drain my downpipe runs into?

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