Ownership of underground pipes and cables

Posted: Sat Jul 8, 2023 10:15pm

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Allank

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Our community has three internal roads servicing all the homes each of which has its own boundary wall with garden etc.

Each house obviously has water and electricity and there must also be sewerage pipes I imagine and these must be located under the community roads.

The original plans for the houses included locating meters in the boundary walls of each house but during the building process the builder decided to create a number of shared meter cupboards which means that any house has pipes and cables within its boundaries and others from it boundaries to the shared meter cupboards.

There is no doubt that the roads are owned by the community as a whole but who owns the pipes and cables.

There is a view that the water pipes between the meter and the house boundary for instance are the responsibility of the house owner based on the fact that some people have had to pay higher than normal bills if there is a leak in that section of pipe.

Does anyone know if there is a general ruling on this?.

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 7:42am

PeterPan

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 7:42am

I live in an apartment and was surprised to discover, after talking to an engineer from Hidraqua, that all the pipework in the building is the responsibility of the community & owner.

The owner is responsible for the individual pipework, before and after the water meter and the actual meter responsibility is shared 50:50 between owner and Hidraqua. The community is responsible for all the shared pipework, pumps and storage in the building and Hidraqua is responsible for pipework to the building.

Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:00am

tebo53

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:00am

I think that it's the same as in the UK in the fact that the utility companies are only responsible for equipment and pipes etc up to the meters. The owners are responsible for the maintenance of the equipment, pipes, wires etc after the meters.

Steve

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:09am

PeterPan

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:09am

tebo53 wrote on Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:00am:
I think that it's the same as in the UK in the fact that the utility companies are only responsible for equipment and pipes etc up to the meters. The owners are responsible for the maintenance of the equipment, pipes, wires etc after the meters.
Steve

I was surprised to find that owners in Spain can also be responible for the pipework before the meter.

We now turn ours off before the meter, if away any length of time, so we won't be billed for any leaks.

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 10:21am

Allank

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Location: Playa Flamenca

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 10:21am

tebo53 wrote on Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:00am:
I think that it's the same as in the UK in the fact that the utility companies are only responsible for equipment and pipes etc up to the meters. The owners are responsible for the maintenance of the equipment, pipes, wires etc after the meters.
Steve

I hear that view expressed and seems generally accepted but in our case the plans were for the meters to be in the garden wall of the houses and in fact the meter cupboards are still there. In such a case I'd have no argument but it seems completely wrong for the water company to move a meter 50 yds away from where it was supposed to be and dump 50 yds of pipe on to the owner without agreement.

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 10:24am

Allank

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Posted: Sun Jul 9, 2023 10:24am

PeterPan wrote on Sun Jul 9, 2023 9:09am:
I was surprised to find that owners in Spain can also be responible for the pipework before the meter.
We now turn ours off before the meter, if away any length of time, so we won't be billed for any leaks.

Yes a lot of people in our community do the same but I was interested to read that Hidraqua often make payments to people when there is a leak beyond the meter. Cases vary from complaints about how long Hidraqua take to respond to people getting it all back and others being part refunded.