Shared water supply pipe,neighbour allowing another property to tap in

[shinook123]

I have contacted the water board and they have instructed me to email the regulations dept.Despite emailing over a week ago nobody has responded.Id really like some advise on what our neighbour is doing.As in Can they do it? Is it legal?
Basically we are on a shared water supply pipe with the property next door.Supply pipe is under our garden and they have an easement to the pipe.Our water pressure is ok but we do have lower pressure a few times a week.I should add we are a domestic house,the property next door is tea room,the couple who own it,live above in a converted flat.Now the property next door up to the tea room is a vacant shop.The vacant shop has never had any water supply or plumbing.The man who leased the shop for years had an art gallery there.He lives opposite the shop,so guess he popped home if he needed the loo or to make a coffee etc...A new leaseholder has taken over the vacant shop.He wants to connect to mains water as he is planning to open a deli.Due to the location of the nearest water main and needing a road closure,he has been quoted £10 grand to do the work.He says he can't afford this,also it's more time consuming and he wants to get up and running ASAP.
Now my next door neighbours (the tea room) are letting him connect to their property.The tea room and vacant shop share a small entrance passage.They are going to connect a pipe from their kitchen sink,under the floor in the communal passage and through into his shop.The tea room isnt on a water meter and nor are we it's due to the ground and access here.So we pay a standard water rates(I assume their rate is higher due to being a commercial premises).What concerns me is that our pressure could drop more as another property will be drawing off our shared supply pipe.Especially as that property will be a deli using a lot more water than an average home.And also if the deli owner isnt included on the easement he cant be made to pay for repairs on the supply pipe should there be a leak.Im also wondering how he would pay for water when he is on our neighbours supply.If anyone can shed any light on this it would be much appreciated.My neighbours next door in the tea room have a history of doing things not strictly above board.For example building without planning permission (which the council stopped) and making changes to their listed building without consent,such as putting pvc windows in which the council made them take back out.So it wouldnt suprise me if they have struck a deal where the deli owner just chips in to their water rates.

I know this isn’t exactly the same but I know that the commercial window cleaners that have large on board water tanks aren’t allowed to refil from domestic supplies (no water meters) as the domestic rating doesn’t take into account the additional use a business like that would need.
I think you should look into getting some detailed legal advice into the easement you have with next door and if there are any conditions attached to it.
I’m surprised the water co isn’t interested in this issue too.

I have a neighbour that appears to have tapped into my field water supply. It’s effectively stealing my water. Not sure what to do about that either. They know perfectly well it’s not their supply but it crosses their land. The cheek of some people is unbelievable.

shared water supplies are a pain. wr have one with our neighbour. ,They installed a pump to increase their water pressure .at times this leaves us with no water whatsoever. can you ring the water board? it does sound very dodgy

Do you have legal advice as part of your household insurance?

Get more action with the water board, request a surveyor visits the properties. Speak to your local Councillor, ask why a deli is being allowed to open when it has no water supply, and why a commercial property is using a domestic water supply. Ask Health & Safety Exec. for advice re a deli and domestic water supply.
This situation would have me fuming!

Christ it’s a deli, you’ll have a few loo flushes and some hand flushes, and that’s about it, maybe the occasional sink or pot full for food prep. Hardly anything to cause your pressure to drop, a leak or anything else.

You also don’t pay for how ,much you use, it’s just a standard rate, I really couldn’t get worked up bout this.

Bluntness
It's a deli with seating for 20 people inside which will be open 6 days a week.Thats more than a few toilet flushes.
I wish we did pay for what water we used.We tried to get a meter but the water board have been out a few times and say the ground is unsuitable here for one.
We pay £85 a month water rates for a house.
Youd be happy I take it if you paid £85 a month and your neighbour tapped into your supply and didnt pay anything.
Our water pressure is iffy a few times a week meaning we cant use our shower sometimes as it will only trickle.Although if you try again in half hour it will work fine.
Maybe if our neighbours were nice we might feel differently but they are not.The man in the tea room next door is a convicted sex offender,him and his wife are divorced although live together to keep the business going.Its been for sale for years since their divorce after his second conviction but it's just not selling.
You might be happy for people to take you for a mug but I'm not

AdaColeman that's excellent advice thank you.Our local councillor is crap but I'm going to phone the water board again on monday.If I dont get a straight answer I will contact our local council,environmental health or building regulations.See if anyone official can advise.Apparently he can open the deli under A1 by serving mainly prepackaged foods.So new change of use/planning needs to go in.

He will also need consent from the water company to connect into a mains water supply.

I don't know how they inforce this or the criteria for their agreeing it but you might be able to get it stopped by mentioning the water pressure issue.

He needs his own water supply. Commercial premises tend to need a larger bore pipe than domestic supplies. He also needs to think about sewerage, because otherwise where is the water drawn into the premises going to go?
A water supply shared between 3 premises is always going to suffer from fluctuations in pressure as each uses appliances.
You can get sub meters for shared water supplies, although they are privately fitted and privately maintained (nothing to do with the water company). The household with the main/parent meter is the one who gets the bill and then recoups the money according to the reading on the sub meter.
I would also be wary that they will want to tap into other utilities.
Of course you could be petty and turn off your external stop tap every time you go out and they'll soon see how much more convenient it is to have their own supply.

Well to be fair calling it a deli then revealing it’s actually a restaurant/cafe kind of puts a different Spin on it dontcha think?

Not sure where you live bluntness100 but loads of delis do coffee and food! Sample before you buy sort of thing. Quite normal! I definitely would have assumed some cafe like area.

The only Deli's I know have seating inside.And as well as pre packaged sandwiches serve limited hot food and coffee to eat in etc...
You would think the tea room wouldnt want the competition,as the deli is more spacious,can seat more people.
We are a village location the tea room is the only cafe in the village.
I'm assuming it's because the tea room have their own clique of customers.It only seats about 12 people and it's mainly used by the church ladies.I really dont know of anyone,my friends,mums at the school who go in there.Its more than likely the common knowledge of the male owners past.He actually got arrested inside the tea room the last time in front of customers.The thing is they are,well they claim to be religious.And all the church people have stuck by him and forgiven him blah blah.
So the deli will definitely have a different customer base I should think.
They are definitely not letting the deli man tap in out of kindness though,there has to be something in it for them.Either he will chip in their bill or he has offered them a cash payment to let him do it.
Should add we had a water leak about 4 years ago on our shared supply.
It runs under our garden so it was us who had the mess.Its not a massive garden and half of it was dug up to repair.Took the tea room owners ages to stump up their 50 %.As the deli wouldnt be on the easement I couldnt legally ask him to pay a penny towards a repair,should it happen again.
Cheeky fuckers both of them.
We do have the main exterior stop cock on our property so I can turn theirs off any time.I know that's illegal to do but if they go ahead and do this work and I find out for certain it is illegal.I think I'll be turning it off every day Its not like they could report it to water board problems with their illegal supply.

I’d be reporting them too.

I have just got off the phone with a well respected local plumbing company.A friend of mine told me to give them a call.They were more than helpful and happy to give me free advice.
What they said was this is definitely illegal.
The worrying part for me is as it's a breach of water regulations,if our supply pipe leaked and caused considerable damage to our property,our insurance would be invalid as there would be a breach on the supply pipe.The plumber insisted I phone the water board every day and demand that they act.Also for the water board to have a it on record that none of this is being done with our consent.The plumber had also told me to contact building regulations and environmental health at our local council.This is because the tea room and the deli will have them involved due to being registered food businesses.
Thank you everyone for giving advice

I used to work for my local water company and I’m amazed they’re not taking More of an interest. Though I never worked in the dept which would have dealt with this type of stuff. However I’m sure it’s illegal.

If you think the water company are fobbing you off you could maybe threaten to complain to Ofwat?

We used to be so strict with this sort of stuff. All business premises had enforced water meters put in as well whether they liked it or not. If on a shared supply that would be an internal meter and they had no choice.

I’d also be talking to planning to make sure they’re aware of them trying to bend the rules over being a cafe or deli.