Neighbours mains power supply under my front garden

[gunnag]

I recently needed to have a leaking mains water supply to my house repaired. My builder used a cat to find the water, gas & power supply to my house and having found them set about finding the leak using a digger.

Unfortunatley, the digger cut through next doors mains power supply which was unexpectadley found to be running under my front garden, well away from my own power cables and probably 20ft from the road.

The power supply company came around and repaired the cable but IM now wondering who pays in this situation.

I have checked the land registry maps/deeds and there is no mention of any easement/wayleave or covenant. Indeed the maps have no markings to show where any utilitys are buried. The house was built around 1972.

Since there is no mention of the power cable in the deeds, does the power company have any right to recover money from myself or my builder?

All info welcome.

 

[securespark]

Not sure.

What have the DNO said to you about the same?

May be a good idea to get some legal advice.

The builder will (or bl**dy well should be) insured. If he isn't he may have to pay up himself.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Since there is no mention of the power cable in the deeds, does the power company have any right to recover money from myself or my builder?

No you - unless you were working the digger.

If the builder swung the bucket around and accidentally wrecked your neighbour's car, would you expect to pay, or would you think it was down to the builder to pay?

 

[rjm2k]

If the builder had cut through your power cable, would you expect to pay for it to be fixed yourself, or the builder/their insurance (if they have any)?

If they did try to recover it from you, just tell them to take it out of the back rent you will charge them for unauthorised use of your land.

 

[westie101]

In a lot of cases as part of the conditions of providing a supply to a housing estate, the builder would grant free wayleaves/easements to the, then, Electricity Boards.
If this is the case it would be the original developer that hasn't put this information on documents.

However

The DNO no doubt had a plan showing this cable was there as well as the location of your own service. As these are freely available to those who are excavating and required by H&S guidelines, why did the builder not request them or ask you to do so?
If the DNO record is correct any defence is reduced by not following these guidelines

 

[gunnag]

Cheers for the replies guys, will have to see whether the DNO (Scottish & Southern Energy) send us a letter with a bill for the repair.

If they do send a bill, IM going to reply with the builders details since he caused the damage. Hopefully he does have insurance.

Anyone got a rough estimate how much this could cost? There were 2 guys working for around 3 hours.

 

[Chri5]

£500- £1200

 

[ChrisRogers]

why on earth did he not use the CAT he had on site?

There is no excuse for incompetance and he's made himself liable for not taking appropiate precautions

 

[gunnag]

Quite agree, still, looks like he is liable, so no comeback on me

 

[dhutch]

Certainly sounds like its the builder against the DNO, personally while asking around isnt a bad thing I would now keep fairly quiet about it and simply imply the assumption that the builder and DNO will sort it between them.

Daniel

 

[gunnag]

Spoke to the builder today and he claims he did use a CAT to find the supply to our house as well as any other utilities hidden underground. He says nothing was detected around the trench he dug.

The other oddity is the size of the cable he apparantly broke and the way the DNO repaired it. I found a section of the old cable the DNO had cut out and its only around 10mm dia overall. The cable isnt armoured and appears to have a central core (live?) followed by a layer of insulation, then covering the inner insulation is a layer of wires (neutral return?) finally followed by black outer insulation. By builder says this type of cable is barely strong enough to supply a detached garage let alone a 4 bed house.

When the DNO spliced in the repair, they didnt cut the power off to any other houses in the road, so IM wondering how they could repair the cable when its apparantly still live? Maybe they wore special insulating gloves?

 

[dhutch]

I know nothing about old feeds, but doing a live repair is not unheard of. May parents house was added to the grid when it was live.

Have a look at the photo in the OP of this tread
//www.diynot.com/forums/electrics/electricity-meter-looks-old.325678/


Daniel

 

[westie101]

Spoke to the builder today and he claims he did use a CAT to find the supply to our house as well as any other utilities hidden underground.

The builder needs to learn how to use a CAT properly, they do have limitations, there are other techniques can be used with them to ensure a higher degree of safety.

The other oddity is the size of the cable he apparantly broke and the way the DNO repaired it. I found a section of the old cable the DNO had cut out and its only around 10mm dia overall. The cable isnt armoured and appears to have a central core (live?) followed by a layer of insulation, then covering the inner insulation is a layer of wires (neutral return?) finally followed by black outer insulation. By builder says this type of cable is barely strong enough to supply a detached garage let alone a 4 bed house.

It will most likely be a piece of 16mm2 CNE which is good for 100A on our system.

When the DNO spliced in the repair, they didnt cut the power off to any other houses in the road, so IM wondering how they could repair the cable when its apparantly still live? Maybe they wore special insulating gloves?

Most jointing at 230V is done live as the alternative would be to dscconect the whole street or streets. wearing gloves is only part of it!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The builder needs to learn how to use a CAT properly, they do have limitations, there are other techniques can be used with them to ensure a higher degree of safety.

 

[mattylad]

Damn - I need to go to specsavers...