Neighbour and shared drains

[queenofshera]

My NDN is constantly moaning about our drains. Apparently he and I share a main one with a few other neighbours. for context - Everyone in my close is an elderly/retired married couple and I’m on my own with young DC, so I’m constantly busy in and out to work etc whilst they are often in their homes and gardens with all the time in the world to do chat in the gardens, do house stuff, share brews and I’m the odd one out really. NDN is a retired builder so constantly tinkering with stuff, has loads of garages with various equipment and is always doing work on their house.

Over the 11 years I’ve lived here, he’s come round a few times telling me his drains are slow and wanting access to the manhole (?) in my back garden so he could rod it, fine, whatever makes him happy. When this happens he always says mine must be bad as well, but they never are. He rambles on a lot so I just let him chat on, smile politely, then leave him to it. Before Easter he asked to come in the garden again as his drains were slow and toilets not flushing properly, then told me he’d have to charge me (even though I wasn’t having any issues myself!) I explained I was totally broke so he’d have to wait a few weeks til payday, and couldn’t afford much even then, and since I wasn’t having problems was unsure what I needed to pay him for. I would have probably paid him some small amount just to keep good relations, but thankfully he then said it was actually easier than he’d thought and didn’t need to charge me. So that was already very weird and awkward.

But shortly after he’d done that, I had a huge toilet blockage needing an emergency plumber on Easter Sunday at huge expense. So I don’t know if my NDN had done something wrong or if it’s just a coincidence. Anyway my drains are currently all fine but he came round again yesterday saying he’s checked all his, but there’s still a problem, slow toilets, etc etc. He had the blueprints/drain plans/giant map thing for all our houses and pointed at something, said there’s a manhole thing under my extension so I’ll need to get a Dynorod to come with a camera! I said I’m not doing that at the moment because I currently have no problems, and he’s gone away looking all confused saying he’ll check his own drains again.

I have no idea about this and obviously going to double check what he’s saying, but has anyone any experience of this? I’m wondering am I liable if I refuse to get dynorod and then all the neighbourhood drains are messed up? I will do it if it’s going to help prevent a future massive issue. But also if we all share drains, then why can’t he get dynorod himself to access wherever it is with a camera from his own property, or one of the other neighbours’ as they must all be connected, and then he could approach all the affected neighbours to split the cost or something? I don’t want to have any confrontations or bad relationships with him and his wife, but I also wonder is he just being a cheeky fucker putting all the problems on to me/my property? Has anyone got any experience with this type of thing please?

If I were in your shoes I would stop entertaining your neighbour and get my own drainage person in.

Neighbour has a been in his bonnet and you are not having any problems until he started, I would go and ask him what exactly he did that cased your toilet to block up or if he was just looking.

In other words assume you need a professional drainage expert and not your neighbour's advice

As an aside his drains could be slow for all sorts of reasons including his have built poorly, not enough drop etc and nothing to do with you

Shared drains are usually the responsibility of the local sewerage (and water) company. I would contact them first with any drainage problems as it may well not cost you anything to get sorted.

Shared drains are generally adopted by the sewerage undertaker, so if they’re blocked in a shared point, the responsibility for clearing and/or repair lies with them.

If they are shared drains then the water company who supplies your sewerage services ( which may or may not be the same as your water supplier) is responsible. You or your neighbour should call them out each time to do the unblocking. If it's shared they are responsible and you won't be charged. If you call them enough times to sort blockages they will investigate by putting a camera down and may rectify any issues they find.

Charge you for what, exactly? His time? He’s not a professional so he can shove it.

We had an issue with shared drains -Dynorod referred to the waste water company who came out. They cleared out but problem re emerged and after a more thorough investigation by them it turns out one of the neighbours has a collapsed drain. Contact the waste water company and don’t allow neighbour access again - he could be making everything worse.

This!

we have exactly the same problem (fortunately the PITA NDN moved)

where ever the manholes are is irrelevant- your water board will sort it.

He sounds like he needs a hobby other than your drains! I rod my own drains when we’ve had issues, they were £20 from screwfix there’s no way he should be charging you if he’s offering. You’re getting much better advice than I can give. if you can be arsed to investigate, if it is your extension drain blocked the manhole after it will be really really low as everything will be held up before. so it’s easy to see where the blockage is.

We had shared drains in our first house. New Year’s Day our garden was covered in shit as someone had been putting baby wipes down there. Ours being the lowest point blocked and flooded. Everyone else just shrugged and left us literally shovelling their shit and with the bill.

Oh thank you all so much! I am very relieved to hear these thoughts, I was worried I was being a stubborn cow about it all just because he annoys me with his rambling when I’m literally walking out of my door (he’s the type that will just talk at you non stop about utterly relevant things yet somehow he’s the hero of all the stories). He presents it to me like it’s a done deal and my responsibility. Next time he comes round waffling on I’ll tell him what’s been said here about referring it to the waste water company and tell him I’m staying out of it. Thanks everyone!

I live in a terrace so we have a shared main drain at the back.

Work to the main drain is the responsibility of the water/sewage company and your neighbour should not be messing around with it...

Everyone is responsible for their individual drains that connect to the main but nothing else.

@FatherFrostythat's why I wanted to check as if it’s my fault, I don’t want the NDN having to shovel our shit or facing a bill as in your situation! That’s awful.

Yes he has his own rods and offered, but then only mentioned charging me afterwards. He’s done it a few times over the years (only his have been a problem, never mine, but he always says after that whatever he did has sorted it) and never mentioned charging before so it’s a bit odd.

So long as you're not flushing wet wipes or sanitary products down your toilet then he's being unreasonable! As others have said, shared drains are the responsibility of the water companies, if he has issues that are downstream of his property connection then he should be contacting them and definitely don't pay him anything! It's quite common for extensions and conservatories to have built over manhole and access covers (not ideal but it happens!) so it's quite possible you have drains running under your floors. If there's a recurring issue with slow drainage or drains backing up then the water co. may want to put a camera down to cctv it to check for blockages, cracks in the pipe, or tree root ingress. All of which would be their responsibility to repair if it's on a shared drain.

What the actual? Why are you allowing this nutjob access to your property and your drains???

You might want to print this off for him! It's from Thames Water but same responsibility apply across all of England, Wales and Scotland. Sewer pipe responsibility | Sewer flooding | Thames Water

This. Do not let an amateur meddle with your drains.

The first time he asked I didn’t know he was a nutjob! I didn’t mind being friendly and allowing him access to lift the cover and check, then one time he did a rod thing, went away happy and didn’t ask for another couple of years. Each time since then it was the same, he just wanted to lift and check, one of the times my toilet had actually been slow to flush and fill, so I had no issue with him having a look as it might have been helpful to me too, and I just didn’t think to wonder about it. But since the start of this year it’s been 3 times already, suddenly mentioning charging me and now telling me to hire bloody dynorod so it’s clearly escalating.

If he comes round again I’ll follow the advice here and tell him to contact the waste water people and no more access! Thanks all