Shared Water Supply

[namechanger2019]

The landlord from next door just called us to let us know his tenants had a leak in his property last night and a plumber attended to fix it.

He says as the leak was in the pipe leading from the water supply to our house it is 100% our responsibility and we need to pay him.

I basically told him to put it all in writing and we would get legal advice as I am unsure how legit that sounds. Also why didn't they knock or call last night to discuss this in real time, we were in all night? Surely at most we are 50/50 responsible for any shared pipes on his property? Any advice would be great, going to call our home insurance people for advice also.

This is the first house we have owned and only been here 6 months so all new to us. Thanks in advance :)

What a knob threatening to cut of your water.

Its illegal to cut of water supply off . ofwat council should have a neighbor disputes department also ask the water company to information the neighbor of the legislation

It's definitely illegal to cut off someones water, even the water company can't do that regardless of whether you owe them money. No idea whose responsibility to repair the pipe though.

How did you get on OP?

I had a similarish problem fairly recently and phoned ofwat, who weren’t of great help, neither was the water company, but ofwat have the following guide for who is responsible for what:

www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-pipes/

Your neighbour is not allowed to turn your water off. If access to the stopcock is on your boundary then surely he can’t access it to cut off your water?

There is also something called easement rights that relates to property, boundaries, access etc, which you could google which may or may not help your issue.