Adoption of Private Sewers

On 1 October 2011 the water authorities of England and Wales will take over responsibility for all private sewers pursuant to the provisions of The Water Industry (Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011.  The Regulations came into effect on 1 July 2001 and the process is called ‘adoption’.

From 1 October onwards – unless the current owner of a sewer successfully applies for an exemption from the process – the water authority will take over the running and maintenance of all private sewers connected to the public system at that date.  All ancillary costs will also be borne by the water authority.  In Staffordshire, Derbyshire and much of the surrounding Midlands the relevant water authority is Severn Trent.

An important distinction to make is the difference between a sewer and a drain.  The legislation only applies to sewers and not to drains – a ‘sewer’ being a pipe that connects several properties together and a ‘drain’ being the pipe that serves only one property (and which connects that property to the party sewer).

The process will be of definite benefit to a homeowner who shares the use of a joint private sewer with other properties in the road because currently when a blockage or leak occurs, they are responsible for arranging its repair or replacement and then have the added burden of recouping a share of the cost from each of the owners of the adjoining properties.  The process will, however, prove a headache for the water authority who do not currently know the location of the sewers that they are adopting because often no records were kept at the time the sewers were installed.

It is estimated that a full survey to plot the route of all the private sewers in England and Wales would cost approximately £1 billion.  The cost makes a survey prohibitive and so instead the water authority plan to look at records held by the Local Authority and developers in the hope that these will reveal the necessary information.   It is expected however that these records will be incomplete or sketchy and so those private sewers that cannot be mapped on 1 October 2011 will be mapped over the coming years – as and when the water authority is called out to inspect, repair or replace them.

When you purchase a property you need to know whether or not it is connected to the public sewer and the route of the sewer pipe.  At Astle Paterson we will carry out a drainage search for you before exchange of contracts which confirms the route of public sewers as well as revealing whether there are any public sewers within the boundary of the property or close to your boundary line. 

A plan is supplied with the search result showing the route of all public foul, surface water and combined sewers.  After 1 October 2011 the search plan will not be so accurate because of the number of newly adopted sewers which cannot be plotted.

Hitherto any building work which would result in building over a public sewer required the water authority’s express prior written consent in the form of a building over agreement.  These agreements allowed the water authority to access their sewer pipes by any means required and did allow them to demolish an extension if necessary.  As a result of the legislation and automatic conversion of private sewers to public sewers on 1 October 2011, there are expected to be many tens of thousands of public sewers that are built over and therefore largely inaccessible to the water authorities.

It is understood that the cost of the adoption process will be met by an increase in water charges countrywide.  The expected increase will be somewhere between £5.00 and £20.00 per household per annum but cannot yet be confirmed.

If you have any questions about the adoption process or drainage searches or simply want to talk to us about moving house, please telephone the conveyancing team on 01283 531566.