Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011: Who’s Really Responsible For Your Drains?

Here at Logical Drainage Solutions Ltd, we spend our days dealing with drains. For most people though, drains are something you never think about until there is a problem.

One question we hear all the time is:

“Is this my responsibility or the water company’s?”

The answer changed in a big way when the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011 came into effect (brought in through the Water Industry (Schemes of Arrangement) (England and Wales) Regulations 2011). Many homeowners still are not sure what that actually means for them, so let’s walk through it clearly and simply.

Before the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011

Before 2011, drainage responsibility was confusing and often felt unfair.

If you lived on a street with several houses, any shared sewer pipe running outside your property boundary was often classed as a private sewer. That caused a lot of problems for homeowners:

• Confusion and disputes: People were rarely sure who should pay when something went wrong. Was it you, your neighbour or everyone on the shared line together?
• Sudden, high costs: Repairing a collapsed or damaged shared sewer could cost thousands of pounds. Sometimes only one or two households ended up footing the bill, even though the pipe served several properties.
• Short term fixes: Getting multiple neighbours to agree on a contractor, price and solution was difficult. As a result, people often went for the cheapest or quickest fix, not the best long term repair.

Overall, it was a messy system and it made it harder to keep the wider wastewater network in good condition.

What Changed With the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011

To sort out this confusion, the government introduced what most people now call the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011.

From 1 October 2011:

• Most private sewers that connected to a public sewer were transferred to the local water and sewerage companies.
• Most lateral drains that ran from the property boundary to the public sewer were also taken over by the water companies.
• Around 200,000 kilometres of pipework moved into public ownership.

In simple terms, the aim was to create one clear point of responsibility, take the pressure off individual homeowners, and make it easier to manage the underground network properly.

However, the Act did not make every pipe the water company’s problem. Some parts of your drainage system are still yours to look after.

What Your Water Company Is Usually Responsible For

Under the rules that followed the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011, your local water and sewerage company is generally responsible for:

• Public sewer mains: These are the larger sewers that usually run under roads and public areas.
• Lateral drains: This is the part of the pipe that runs from your property boundary to the public sewer. In some cases, sections of this pipe can run under your garden or driveway, even where it is technically outside your legal boundary.

If a fault is found in one of these areas, the water company will normally be the one that has to investigate and repair it.

What You Are Still Responsible For

This is the bit that matters most when you discover a blockage or a bad smell.

You, as the homeowner, are still responsible for:

• Drains inside your property boundary that serve only your home: These are the pipes that run from your house, for example from toilets, sinks, showers and appliances, up to the point where they meet the lateral drain near your boundary.
• Internal plumbing problems: This includes things like blocked toilets inside the house, pipework behind walls, under floors or under kitchen units that only serves your property.
• Cesspits, septic tanks and connecting pipework: If your property is not connected to a public sewer and instead uses a septic tank or cesspit, you are responsible for the tank and the pipework leading to it.
• Private pumping stations: If you have a private pump that helps lift wastewater to a higher sewer or storage tank and it has not been adopted by the water company, you are usually responsible for its upkeep.

A simple way to think about it is this:

If the pipe is on your land and only carries wastewater from your property, it is usually yours to maintain.

Why This Still Matters Today

Even though the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011 made things clearer on paper, it can still be hard to work out who should deal with a problem when something goes wrong.

If you notice:

• Regular blockages
• Gurgling sounds from your drains
• Slow draining sinks, showers or baths
• Unpleasant smells from manholes or gullies

you need to know if the problem is on your side of the boundary or on the water company’s side.

If you guess and get it wrong, you can waste time speaking to the wrong people, delay a repair or end up paying for work that should not be your responsibility.

How Logical Drainage Solutions Ltd Can Help

This is exactly where we come in.

At Logical Drainage Solutions Ltd, we use specialist CCTV drain survey equipment to:

• Find the exact location of defects: Blockages, cracks, root ingress and other issues.
• Map your drains: So you can see how your underground pipework is laid out.
• Identify the handover point: Where your private drain ends and the lateral drain begins.
• Provide a clear report: Something you can pass to your water company or insurer as evidence.

Once we know what is going on:

• If the problem is your responsibility: We can carry out the right repair, whether that is high pressure jetting to clear a blockage, relining a damaged section of pipe or carrying out an excavation where a full replacement is needed.
• If the problem is the water company’s responsibility: We will give you the evidence you need so you can contact them and log the fault with confidence.

Not Sure Who Is Responsible For Your Drain Problem?

If you are dealing with a blockage, repeat drainage issues or ongoing smells and you are not sure whether it comes under the Private Drains and Sewers Act 2011 or your own private drains, we are happy to help you figure it out.

Get in touch with Logical Drainage Solutions Ltd and we will:

• Investigate the issue
• Tell you whether it is a private drain, a lateral drain or a public sewer problem
• Explain clearly who should sort it out
• Help get your drains flowing properly again

If you would like to read more general guidance, you can also look at Ofwat’s information on responsibility for pipes and sewers. And if it still is not clear after that, just contact us and we will talk you through the options in straightforward, everyday language.