On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:03:17 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

D55 wrote:

But it can't be fair for a home owner to be held responsible for pipework
that is 8 or 10 feet below ground level
beneath layers of concrete!

Why ever not?

Who else does it belong to?

Well one reason is that the public serwer is often under the roadway or
footpath and if the bit that connects your house to the public sewer
collapses under the roadway, it's your responsibility, yet you are not
allowed to fix it yourself! It seems somewhat unfair that you must pay an
approved contractor huge amounts, simply because you are not allowed to
work on the bit under the public highway. It would make far more sense for
the demarcation line to be at the property boundary, so you would only have
responsibility for the bit you are actually allowed to deal with yourself.

Ours actually collapsed just on our property and also right in the middle
of the road where it dropped vertically to join the public sewer.
Fortunately it serves two houses, one built in '34 and ours in '35. At the
time we were told that if it hadn't been the water company's
responsibility, it could have cost us £10-15K!

SteveW