Parents not paid their water bill for 25+ years. Are they about to get caught?

[FreeWatergate]

Honestly what they've done is wrong and they probably deserve to get caught, but they aren't in a good place financially and I'm worried it'll cripple them. They've lived in the same house for over 25 years and somehow have never paid for their water. They don't know how, my theory is one of the neighbouring farms is footing the bill unknowingly but I can't say how.

It's always been a concern to me, as kids we were told to never answer the door when water companies were about so we didn't, and nothings ever happened. Except my mums now in a real state as she's had them at her door again this morning, as usual she didn't answer and has now had a letter through that they're installing a meter.

Are they just going to have the meter fitted and start paying? Or are they about to get absolutely fucked for 25 years worth of free water?

Good for them if they've managed to get away with it.
It's not good to be dishonest, I don't condone it, but a part of me likes to see the little man win over the big companies.

We had this with british gas or whatever company we were with. Tried to find out who we with. No one knew..... three years later a company contacted us to saying we owed for all the years we not paid. We left the property Just under two years ago. I proved we tried to contact them and they wrote the whole amount off although in theory we owed £13 for that last month as it was within the time they allowed to charge. Very glad of martin lewis website.

What happens to their sewerage and surface water?

Can't answer for the other poster, but my parents have private sewerage via a septic tank, and surface water goes into the river - very rural!

They don't pay anything for water rates and pay for all maintenance of their water supply and sewerage, however as I understand it the water board ARE responsible that they have a clean drinking water supply - when flooding meant it was impossible to guarantee the safety of their water supply, they turned up with thousands of litres of bottled water.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

^^

Right?!! Fuck me there's some miserable folks in here

I'm sure British Water or whoever the fuck the company is won't go broke because of your parents, op

Jesus

@Drabarni

Good for them if they've managed to get away with it. It's not good to be dishonest, I don't condone it, but a part of me likes to see the little man win over the big companies.

I see your point. However, unfortunately, in most cases of people avoiding paying (whether deliberately or by accident;) other customers will end up picking up the slack, by having their bills increased.

I think there's enough people paying their bills for an extra 1p not to matter.
I pay all my bills for now, but can't be bothered about those that don't.

perhaps we're the thicko's for paying it, when you clearly don't have to.

@DowntownAbby we too were on septic tanks and soak away s. There was a river below our property and the hills we lived on drained you these.

The water people did not like that though. Oh they tried for years to make us pay for something. They couldn't tell us exactly what though.
It used to give me great pleasure thinking of some entitled, officious little man in a city office somewhere going red with steam coming from his ears at the thought that were were getting away with not paying up like he has to because by Christ he liked to send us letters!

How dare they steal water! Do they think it just falls from the sky?

I cant help feel so sorry for all of those poor shareholders who are living in penury through this thief who robs them of the very source of life.

If we dont take serious action against these criminals, next people will be claiming they dont need to pay their fresh-air bill, and then where would we be?

"In her opinion it was likely that the unpaid water bill would stretch for longer than we had lived there and that the arrears would be all charged to the current occupants -us"

You could probably have shown when you moved in though & that you had lived elsewhere previously.

Also, if they went too far back they could have been looking at when you were kids or even before you were born, so I doubt it would have worked.

The people water companies send round about meters aren't great at checking addresses, they visited every single flat in our large block of flats and the tower block next door when in fact none of us are getting meters because it would be too expensive/complicated to fit, the man was given a list of roads to go to, not individual addresses.
My parents little holiday cottage got a visit too, it doesn't have mains water, or in fact any running water, just a little well, but again other buildings near by are getting a meter so the water people knocked.

Point is if your parents haven't had a bill in 25 years then check they are actually getting water from the water company before they pay/agree to a meter, it might be they have a natural spring or there is something in their deeds about water coming from the farm, there are all sorts of weird things in deeds that nobody notices til they have a reason to check.

Water companies seem to be a bit of a lottery.

We were allowed to have our water measured for a year and they compared usage with what we'd pay if we had a meter. A meter was 50% cheaper on average.

There was an issue with connecting us to the meter (IT issue their end) for a long time, once we'd decided to proceed. They backdated our overpayments.

I think some people are whinging about the cost of water. Someone mentioned £30 a month for a single person. That's £1 a day- the cost of a 500ml bottle of water in the shops. But you will be using enough water for your loo, cooking, showering, bathing and even your garden for £1 a day.

pay their fresh-air bill
Oh god, don’t give them ideas.

Op I would recommend that for starters you talk to your parents neighbours and check whether they are on a mains supply or not. It is entirely possible that your parents don't need to pay but you need to check that out first. As I said I have a private spring supply it supplies both my property and 2 other cottages, I have an elderly neighbour and had to prevent her agreeing to having a meter fitted when the water company was pushing for them as she knew she didn't pay but didn't know why, We have 1 water supply, 1 cess pit and 1 soakaway for the 3 properties which I deal with everything for, costs are minimal so I don't bother passing it on if something needs sorting.

If bills had been issued then it would have gone to court a long time ago so something is not usual in this circumstance, my instinct would be that it's a private supply.

JinglingHellsBells - how many people are in your household ? United utilities have made massive increases to their bills.

Do you think they avoided it deliberately though ,or was there a mix up ?Some water bills are confusing ,we pay 1 smaller water bill (drinking water )to our Home town ,and a second larger bill (sewage) to the area company .I would have thought they could only bill DP for a certain number of years TBH. It would take them ages to work out what they are owed over 25 years!

We had a similar problem with Southern Water when we moved. I realised a year later we had not received a bill and it took ages and a complaint to the MD to get things sorted

They are not obligated to accept a water meter, though it sounds like having one might be good for their ongoing honesty.

Those of you saying you have private water supplies, don't you have to pay for drainage, and possibly sewerage too, if you have no septic tank? Water rates aren't just paying for incoming water.

They are not obligated to accept a water meter

That has been said a couple of times on this thread. It is not necessarily true.

If the OP's parents live in an area that has been deemed to be in serious water stress they don't have a choice - the water company can force them to have a meter. That currently covers Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Essex and Suffolk Water, South East Water, Southern Water, Sutton and East Surrey Water, and Thames Water.

I am answering this as a lawyer. Was the water company aware that they hadn't paid, and yet still providing water? If so, there is something called the "law of acquiescence". Get some legal advice. I'm not going to give it here!

Get them to call the water company, or call on their behalf when you're there. Honestly I would just lie and use the excuse someone gave upthread, they were told it was a private water supply. (There is always a possibility that it is, why else wouldn't they have a meter?) And also be ready to state the ofwat rules thing if someone gets ratty at you on the phone.

I'd just let it wash over you.

Sometimes they add a debt onto what you pay on a meter

Frangipane No one I know has a private water supply without also having thier own drainage system, We are very rural though and it would cost a fortune for the water company to lay sewage pipes to us. We are also on a private road which has no drainage other than a ditch running alongside it.