What drains are my responsibility & what drains are the water company’s?

Pro Heating & Plumbing Ltd & Pro-Drain Ltd answered the question "What drains are my responsibility & what drains are the water company’s?"

The private sewers transfer bill which came into effect and was passed as law on the 1st of October 2011 transferred ownership of drains serving more than one property to the local water authority meaning they are responsible for the maintaining of such drains and these particular drains are now classified as public sewers. Also transferred were the private lateral drains from the point of the property boundary these drains connect our private drainage systems to the public sewers. A homeowner is responsible for their private drains up to the point of their property boundary or the point at which they connect into a shared drain for example a drain that runs behind terraced houses and also serves neighboring properties, your private drains may consist of a sink waste gully, and soil stack pipe which discharges to a manhole chamber in your back garden but the manhole chamber is in fact part of the public sewer in this instance you are not responsible for the manhole chamber nor the main drain running through it only the gully and soil stack pipework up to connection to the chamber are your private drains and therefore you are responsible for blockages or maintaining these pipes.