Man's shock at £33,000 water bill (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
Sussex man's shock at £33,000 water bill
12:59pm Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News By Kimberly Middleton, Acting chief reporter
Ryan Bishop was shocked to receive a £33,000 water bill
A heart-stopping £33,000 bill landed on a tenant’s doormat after a 21.5 million litre water leak.
Enough water to fill more than 60 public swimming pools has leaked from pipes leading to Ryan Bishop’s home.
South East Water realised in June his meter reading was 50 times higher than expected and suspected there was a leak.
Mr Bishop said he told the landlord and the developer of his new home in Westview Close, Peacehaven, but neither fixed the problem - landing the 29-year-old with a five-figure bill.
His landlord said she did not know about the problem until Monday afternoon (January 28), when The Argus called to ask why the leak had not been repaired.
Mr Bishop, who owns a scaffolding company, said: “It was a bit of a shock. I phoned the water company up and they said it wasn’t a mistake.
"There was a leak outside the property and it’s down to me or the landlord to pay.
“When I told them about it six months ago Bovis Homes said it was not their responsibility, even though they built the home and it has a two year guarantee.
'No chance of paying'
“I got in touch with Premier Lets and Sales who I rent with and told them the landlord needed to sort it.
“I just assumed everything was all ok.”
He added: “The water company said they’d help and let me pay in instalments. But I’ve told them I don’t have the money and there’s no chance of me paying.”
The water company fixed the leak on January 15, even though it was on private land, because so much water was being wasted and nothing was being done about it.
'Little option'
A South East Water spokeswoman said since then the utility company has been contacted by the developer to try to resolve the problem.
Steve Andrews, the head of customer and commercial services at South East Water, said: “Despite repeated attempts over the last seven months to get either the customer or developer to resolve a serious leak on private pipework, we were left with little option but to undertake the repair ourselves and send a bill for the wasted water.
“Clearly we’d rather work with customers before it gets to this stage but we were unable to do so in this instance.”
A Bovis Homes spokesman said: "We have no record of any communication regarding this water bill but we will make some enquiries with the home owner, South East Water and our contractors on site now that the issue has been raised with us to find out the full circumstances behind it."
See the latest news headlines from The Argus:
- Hove murder: wanted man phones The Argus
- Company honours exceptional carers from Bognor, Midhurst and Chichester
- Wood-be Bushes gather in city park - a tree-mendous idea
- Police hunt egg thieves - can you help?
- Churchill Square shopping centre evacuated after small fire
Add us to your circles on Google+
Comments(29)
leobrighton
says...
1:47pm Tue 29 Jan 13
Indigatio
says...
2:51pm Tue 29 Jan 13
Fairfax Sakes
says...
2:53pm Tue 29 Jan 13
censored
says...
2:56pm Tue 29 Jan 13
Rocco10
says...
3:16pm Tue 29 Jan 13
censored wrote:Or inside your house where the internal stoptap is, means any leak on your supply pipe won't affect your bill.
Always make sure a meter is installed as close to your stop tap as possible!
mimseycal
says...
3:27pm Tue 29 Jan 13
BiggerH
says...
4:26pm Tue 29 Jan 13
John Steed
says...
5:03pm Tue 29 Jan 13
the liability to pay for the water bill is that of the person named on the bill, in this case the tenant who may well have a counter claim against both the letting agents and the freeholder, having notified them of a leak.
the liability to repair the leak is that of the house owner(freeholder) who may well have had a claim against the developer. the letting agents should have ensured this work was done as a matter of urgency as the leak may have been in a location to affect the foundations and the general fabric of the building.
in any case the leak was known to exist some considerable time ago (7 months) and it is stupidity to simply ignore it. mean while check the water bill out SWA usually charge sewerage as being 93% of metered water supplied, as in this case the water leaked into the ground thus replenishing the groundwater for southern water to pump it back out again ensure that the sewage portion is based on the useage of the previous bill prior to the leak. you do not need to pay for treating foul water that obviously did not go into the sewer.and finaly the tenant could have and should have turned the water off via the easily accessable valve in the meter pit and turned it on just for limited periods of the day, annoying but sensible. meanwhile the tenant could and should get a legal opinion as to liability. £33K is whopping wonga.
mr bishop should also remember assumption is the mother of all f*** ups
Rocco10
says...
7:32pm Tue 29 Jan 13
mimseycal wrote:Afraid not, private property is private property. Does stop them digging up your drive willy nilly if the pipe does leak though. Don't want to come home and find your garden gone and a digger parked there.
Supply pipes surely are the responsibility of the supplier.
a person
says...
8:12pm Tue 29 Jan 13
leobrighton wrote:The water company had paid for the water ,as it was clean tap water being wasted.
Certainly not a tenants fault and the water company didn't pay for the water, don't even think of paying a penny of it.
If you know there is a leak you should follow it up ,
six months is a long time to assume something as expensive as water has been fixed.
Usually the tenant is responsible for paying all bills.
Valerie Paynter
says...
8:33pm Tue 29 Jan 13
I agree he needs to seek urgent legal advice (from someone who specialises in contract law I would suggest)!
If the pipes are new then BOVIS needs to seek help from its insurers who may or may not feel like coughing up.
HJarrs
says...
9:10pm Tue 29 Jan 13
If you have a leak there should be a sensible cap on the bill.I hope Ryan takes this all the way as this level of bill could destroy someones life.
Valerie Paynter
says...
9:23pm Tue 29 Jan 13
HJarrs wrote:You make a really good point. This is something that should be addressed or home owners with pipes on their land leading to public land pipes that are the responsibility of the water company will NOT get meters for fear of just this kind of awful consequence.
Getting a bill for £33k is plainly ridiculous when a neighbour paying water rates would pay £0. If you have a leak there should be a sensible cap on the bill.I hope Ryan takes this all the way as this level of bill could destroy someones life.
And they, with cars to wash, children and grass to water are the biggest users.
S H
says...
9:34pm Tue 29 Jan 13
S H
says...
9:34pm Tue 29 Jan 13
lorrie1
says...
10:02pm Tue 29 Jan 13
BiggerH wrote:Yeah, like i suppose you would pay it, Prat!!!
christ - what a moaner! If you owe it, you should pay it.
a person
says...
10:05pm Tue 29 Jan 13
Valerie Paynter wrote:The pipes from your water meter to your taps etc are the customer’s
HJarrs wrote:You make a really good point. This is something that should be addressed or home owners with pipes on their land leading to public land pipes that are the responsibility of the water company will NOT get meters for fear of just this kind of awful consequence.
Getting a bill for £33k is plainly ridiculous when a neighbour paying water rates would pay £0. If you have a leak there should be a sensible cap on the bill.I hope Ryan takes this all the way as this level of bill could destroy someones life.
And they, with cars to wash, children and grass to water are the biggest users.
responsibility .
Ofwat has made all the water companies responsible for fitting
compulsory water meters to all homes .
This has been happening for quite a while and will go on until all homes have water meters fitted .
You do not have a choice about the meters . you have to have one fitted.
Customers have always been responsible for their supply pipes
on their property.
a person
says...
10:29pm Tue 29 Jan 13
The meter reading was high .
The leak was on his side of the meter not the water companies .
plantwoman
says...
8:40am Wed 30 Jan 13
mimseycal
says...
9:16am Wed 30 Jan 13
plantwoman wrote:Because they can charge someone for the water wasted?
If Southern Water realised there was a leak back in June, why didn't they do anything about it then?
It seems that wastage isn't important if they can benefit from the leak financially.
lillylou
says...
9:16am Wed 30 Jan 13
Ballroom Blitz
says...
9:21am Wed 30 Jan 13
A house has to be let in a fit condition. As there was a massive water leak it obviously wasn't in a fit condition to let, so the onus is on the landlord to pay, not the tenant. But only if the landlord was informed by either the tenant or the letting agency.
I hope he has copies of all correspondence, or he will be in trouble.
pperrin
says...
11:04am Wed 30 Jan 13
Waste water disposal is charged at a HIGHER rate than fresh water supply.
Waste water disposal is charged as a %AGE of fresh water supply.
Ensure you are not charged for disposal of water that actually leaked into the ground...
gheese77
says...
12:39pm Wed 30 Jan 13
pperrin
says...
12:47pm Wed 30 Jan 13
That could be fun.
Skidrow
says...
2:43pm Wed 30 Jan 13
John Steed
says...
5:34pm Wed 30 Jan 13
lillylou wrote:a white van man for scaffolding? twit white van man on £60k a year, double twit white van man a builder, twit who cannot read an article properly. the scaffolder is a builder? Im beginning to think this twit is blonde, even though I thought every blonde knew scaffolders where good at erections.
Being a white van man probably on 60 grand a year im sure he can afford it not nice paying big bills is it mr builder
S H
says...
7:51pm Wed 30 Jan 13
Algeria Touchshriek says...
1:11pm Tue 29 Jan 13