Estates drainage blocking outside 1 house

J

Jeffpa

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Hi

One of the neighbours has been having a problem with the drain in her back garden. Apparently several other houses drains go through this drain and it regularly gets blocked and comes up into her garden attracting rats which get into her house. She is looking for everyone to pay for something to install to stop this problem, not sure what exactly it is but the cost is approx €700. I would have thought that this is a council issue especially is rats are involved as it is a health and safety issue. It's the first we have all heard of it and many of he neighbours don't know each other so it's a little awkward. The builder is long gone so does anyone know who's responsibility it is to fix it?
 
Dublin78 said:
The builder is long gone so does anyone know who's responsibility it is to fix it?
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Has your Local Authority taken over the estate? If so they may have taken over responsibility for the sewer network. However the fact that the foul sewer runs through a private garden complicates matters. The Council will be reluctant to carry out any works on private land without a way leave agreement.

In relation to the rats, it's actually a Health Issue. County Council's don't deal with Health Issues. The HSE do.
 
Dublin78 said:
Hi
The builder is long gone so does anyone know who's responsibility it is to fix it?
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I am in a group of 6, the pipe is at the back of our houses, then goes down the side of the last in the group into the main sewage on the public road. 2 of the 6 have manholes, often it’s these houses that see the problem first, even though the cause might be way down the line or on the public road. I think most residential roads / estates are done in a similar way.

AFAIK if the blockage or whatever is on private property, it’s a problem for the 6 of us jointly, if the problem is on the road, it’s the councils problem.

Your neighbour needs to establish where the problem is and if it’s on private property, what’s causing it.

Dyno rod or similar should be able to clear it and identify where the problem is and the cause.
 
its a private line until it passes outside the boundary of a garden onto a public area where it becomes a local authority issue. If the issue is at the end of the line then you should all contribute but if it is further back the line those up to that point should deal with the issue.

Today most houses have their own connection to the mains line but in the past it was joined for a number of houses and then one connection was made to the mains.
 
Thanks guys. Ok so if its on private property the cost to fix is on the resident or residents. There are 100 houses in the estate we don't know this neighbour at all, how do we know our houses is one of the houses on this pipe?

Also she is talking about installing something to keep the rats down the drain when it gets blocked I would have thought if the drain keeps getting blocked then should that not be fixed and can it be fixed?

A call from a neighbour who lives behind us whom I have never met before looking for money a few weeks before Christmas sparks off my my mistrust in people unfortunately.
 
the piperuns that were installed generally services between 6-8 houses so it will be confined in some regard. It should be easy to identify by lifting the manholes in gardens as a collective to confirm the extent.
 
I had this problem last week had to pay a lad €80 to blast the drains took 3 attempts to do it and drains were blocked up with baby wipes. If it happens again ill be calling the council to unblock it seen as we pay the property tax to cover such issues.
 
thombom said:
I had this problem last week had to pay a lad €80 to blast the drains took 3 attempts to do it and drains were blocked up with baby wipes. If it happens again ill be calling the council to unblock it seen as we pay the property tax to cover such issues.
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Yeah good luck with that

Best to keep the neighbour down the sewer line sweet. If they decided to throw a ball of cement down there untill the pipe is rerouted or prevent anyone accessing their land to fix what are you going to do?

Call in roto rooter, get a camera down there, find out yourself what the issue is if you dont trust the 700 euro bill. Expect to pay 200-300 to get a survey with a camera done. They may find that a join in the pipes has bust or something is catching like a seal between pipes. Simple enough fix. If pipe has collapsed then they can dig and repair it.

Btw easy enough to figure out who is throwing baby wipes down there... I would inform all 6 on the line to use less paper and to flush more. Honestly it sounds like drainage is a mystery to this neighborhood.

Oh and rats dont live down these sewer pipes, certainly not when they are backed up!
 
This is a common issue in my experience. I feel bad for our neighbours a few doors down who actually have to deal with it and am happy to throw them a few quid. €700 does sound like a lot, though.
 
We've had this problem on several occasions. As we are an end house (last house in the estate) we are first to detect the problem (or perhaps others bury their heads in the sand). We just knock on each door and ask each one to check the manhole in their garden and hey presto the culprit is revealed.

As this was happening on a regular basis we did a little further investigation and discovered that there was a very sharp bend on a pipe outside the private property. Eventually the council dug it up and sorted it.
 
The council will fix this problem if you ask them nicely.

I don't think it is correct to say that if the drain is on private property it is the owners problem.

I had a similar situation last year. A main drain connecting 10 houses running through the back gardens. There was a collapse somewhere on the line and my garden got flooded. The cause was 4 houses down, but the flood was in my garden because the manhole is in my garden.

I contacted the council and while it took a while to get them going they never suggested that it was not their responsibility.

The trick to a speedy response is to get the foremans number and talk nicely. Talking to the people in the council office is a bit frustrating.
 
I do alot of insurance claim work and i have never seen the council do this work so it either depends on your location or sure luck that you got them to do the repair
 
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