Current or former Tesco employee? You could be owed £1000s! Join the Equal Pay Claim.

Commercial wastewater services - External sewer flooding

How does Resolver work?

Free forever

Resolver is free. Just raise a case and leave feedback after. Simple! We’ve helped millions of people find a resolution. Get started now and let’s get this sorted.

Know your rights

There’s no jargon in our rights guides. Instead, they’re full of the info you need to get things sorted. We’ll always be on hand with guidance and support to help you get the results you’re looking for.

Get your voice heard

You can be certain that you’re talking to the right person at the right time. We automatically connect you to contacts at thousands of household names, ombudsmen and regulators to find a resolution.

  • The sewerage network owner is responsible for safely removing wastewater from your organisation's premises.
  • Effluent from a public sewer must not enter customers' land or property.
  • If you are affected by sewer flooding, you should contact the sewerage network owner immediately.
  • Alternatively, you can contact your wastewater retailer and they should transfer you to the network owner, provide you with their contact details, or immediately report the issue on your behalf.
  • If effluent from a sewer enters your organisation's land or outbuilding, you may be entitled to a payment of up to £500.
You should know

If you experience an issue with your water company, use Resolver to send your complaint to them. Most companies have a two stage procedure for resolving written complaints and they are required to provide a full written response within 10 working days of receiving your complaint. If your company does not do this, then they may need to make you a payment under the Guaranteed Standards Scheme.

 Guaranteed service standards (GSS)

All customers of water and sewerage companies are entitled to guaranteed minimum standards of service, as laid down by the government. These rights are known as the guaranteed standards scheme (GSS). Where a company fails to meet any of these standards of service, then it is required to make a specified payment to the affected customer.

If you think you are entitled to compensation you have to make a claim within 3 months of the incident.

Exceptions - the GSS may not apply under circumstances outside of the supplier's control (such as extreme weather, strike action and other events that couldn't be reasonably predicted).

Suspecting a leak

If your bill is high and you suspect it is because you have a leak on your property, you should report it to your water company.

Supply pipe leaks are the customer’s responsibility. Your company will normally help you find and fix the leak for free, or at a subsidised cost, if it is the first time you have reported a leak. Subject to certain conditions, the company is also required to reduce your bill to take account of the extra water you have used because of a supply-pipe leak. 

Water quality issues

If you have concerns over water quality issues, you can contact the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) on 0300 068 6400.

Local environment

If your issue is with your local environment then the main contact is the Environment Agency, you can phone the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506.

If your issue is not resolved

If your Water Company in England and Wales cannot resolve your issue then you have the right to escalate your case to the Consumer Council for Water. The Consumer Council for Water is an independent organisation that represents consumers’ interests. Any household or non-household customer of a water and sewerage or water only company can complain to Consumer Council. It has powers to investigate most of the complaints you may have about your company’s services. You can find more information about Consumer Council on its website, www.ccwater.org.uk.

If you are not satisfied with the response from the Consumer Council for Water then you can ask to have your case appealed.

 

The role of Ofwat

Ofwat will deal with certain customer complaints but your case has to have been responded to by your water company and must remain unresolved before the CCW will look at it. The issues that they will handle include:

  • Laying and maintaining pipes on private land
  • Anti-competitive behaviour
  • Breaking of licence conditions

Find the best rights for you

We have 5,115 pages of rights advice for you covering 10,930 companies and organisations across 16 public & private sectors. Feel free to browse companies for this specific issue - they're all listed below - but the quickest way to find the best rights for you is by using our unique Rights Finder to access our extensive database of advice.

Start by telling us the name of the company or organisation you have an issue with.

Who do you have an issue with?

Raise it for free via Resolver

Helping you with External sewer flooding

Resolver covers the issue External Sewer Flooding for 1 companies and organisations:

a   b   c  d   e   f   g   h   i   j   k   l   m   n   o   p   q   r   s   t   u   v   w   x   y   z