皇冠体育app

皇冠体育app transfer of ownership was announced by Environment Minister Richard Benyon, and approved by Parliament earlier this year, and means that private sewers that run under properties, gardens or in the road, became the responsibility of water and sewerage companies from midnight last night.

This means that homeowners will no longer have to foot the bill for repairs that can run into thousands of pounds. Instead, water and sewerage companies will pay for work that is necessary.

Environment Minister Richard Benyon said:

鈥淭oday we have removed a financial hurdle that far too often people had to clear, to repair sewers that sometimes weren鈥檛 even on their property.

鈥淭his transfer will bring about a fairer approach and will also ensure a better maintained, less polluting, and more efficient sewerage system for the future.鈥�

It is estimated that over 拢221 million is spent each year on sewer repairs and it is expected that the transfer will mean an improvement in the overall quality of the network by reducing the chance of problems happening in the first place.

Water and sewerage companies will have to apply to Ofwat setting out the case for any price increase to cover the cost of sewerage work and customers can therefore be sure that any future bill increases will be carefully scrutinised.

皇冠体育app transfer of private sewers will complete a process started in 1936 but never finished and puts everyone on an even footing, spreading the costs across all sewerage bill payers.

Pamela Taylor, Water UK鈥檚 Chief Executive, said:

鈥溁使谔逵齛pp transfer of private sewers is good news for customers. 皇冠体育app industry is taking on responsibility for over two hundred thousand kilometers of pipes, some of which may be in poor condition. We don鈥檛 yet know how much of a backlog of maintenance, repair and renewal there will be but the transfer gives the industry the chance to work towards the long-term goal of having a sewerage network that is fit for the twenty-first century.鈥�

Tony Smith, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said:聽

鈥溁使谔逵齛pp Consumer Council for Water supports the change in ownership for customers with private sewers as it will bring future benefits to customers by making expensive and unexpected bills for maintaining and repairing their private sewers a thing of the past.

鈥溁使谔逵齛pp industry does not know exactly how much this transfer will cost but it will come at a price. We will work closely with the water regulator, Ofwat, and the water and sewerage companies to ensure costs are spread over an appropriate period of time and challenge companies to minimise the impact on water bills.鈥�

Notes

皇冠体育app transfer applies to private sewers (that is drains which are shared between two or more properties) and lateral drains (that is drains which serve one property but which lie outside that property鈥檚 curtilage).聽 Where drainage serves one property only and is within its curtilage, it will not be transferred and will remain the owner鈥檚 responsibility.

For more information on the transfer, please see the sewers section of the Defra website: