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When a service that most people take for granted is disrupted, like their water supply, it can cause stress and upheaval for any homeowner. 

Resolving the disruption, or having to consider finding an alternative supply can seem overwhelming. The policyholder in this recent claim found themselves in just such a situation, and were very happy to have the support and guidance of our claims team when an alternative water supply was needed at short notice, and there wasn’t an obvious cost-effective solution.

Never bore-ing

In January 2022, we issued a Services policy covering the lack of legal easement for a private water supply to a residential property in Devon. The property itself is on the outskirts of a small village, and had formerly been part of a privately-owned estate. Solicitors acting on behalf of the sellers contacted us, as the property had been using the estate’s private water supply for at least 40 years, but there were no rights to do so included in the title deeds. As no issues had previously been raised over the supply, and no fees had ever been paid to the estate, we were happy to issue cover with a policy limit of £800,000 for a premium of £250.

Almost two and a half years later, in May 2024, the policyholder contacted our claims team. They had received a letter from agents acting on behalf of the estate, giving notice that the water supply was to be cut off. In the correspondence, the agents referred to a licence issued in 1970 granting the property the right to use the water supply, the terms of which also allowed the estate to rescind the supply with 21 days’ notice, if a direct mains supply became available. The water supply was now only serving our policyholder’s property, and as several neighbouring properties were connected to the mains water supply, the letter gave the policyholder four months to arrange an alternative supply.

Our claims team quickly got to work. Their first step was to investigate the licence referred to in the letter. The policy had been issued on the basis that there was no licence in place, so we needed to establish whether the buyer was aware of the licence at the time of the purchase. It quickly became clear that the seller’s solicitors had taken out the policy, seemingly unaware of any licence in place, and that the current policyholder, who the cover had transferred to as the successor in title, had not been made aware of its existence, so the team were happy to handle the claim.  

Get connected

While we would usually consider how to defend the claim against our policyholder, the terms of the licence clearly established the estate’s right to rescind the use of their private supply if a mains alternative was available. And as the supply was by then only serving our policyholder’s property, there was little to be gained from entering into protracted legal arguments. Instead we focused our efforts on arranging an alternative supply, and contacted the water company to get a quote for connecting the insured property to the mains supply. 

Unfortunately, while a mains connection was theoretically possible, the water company were not able to split the supply from neighbouring properties and the nearest connection was some 200 metres from the property, making it prohibitively expensive. To complicate matters further, the infrastructure required to connect to the mains supply would need to cross land owned by a third party, which would require legal consent in the form of an easement. This would take time to arrange, and there were no guarantees that the landowner would agree to the works. The possibility of pursuing this course of action hit another barrier when we discovered that the landowner had recently died.

While our team were investigating the requirements of securing the mains connection, the estate again wrote to our policyholder, pressuring them to take quick action and making threats to cut the existing supply. All of which meant that looking for an alternative solution became the priority. Based on its rural location and the amount of land the property encompassed, one possible option was to drill a borehole. This was by no means a guaranteed solution, and would very much depend on what was found once drilling began. If a pump could be installed, the water quality would then need to be tested to see if it required a filtration system, so the full cost of the work involved would depend on the results. However, a number of properties in the area used boreholes for a similar purpose, which suggested there wouldn’t be issues with the water pressure, or with the quality. Drilling the borehole was not necessarily a cheap or easy alternative, but work could start almost immediately, which meant that it would be quicker to arrange than any connection to the mains supply. And as the estate was becoming increasingly impatient, that was a key concern.

Works begin

A specialist contractor was appointed to drill the 40 metre-deep hole and install the pump. Once this initial phase was completed, pipes were laid under the garden to take the water from the borehole to the house, and a plumber was appointed to then connect the supply to the house. At this point, water samples were taken and sent off to be tested. The results came back within a few weeks, revealing the presence of metals in the water, including arsenic. This meant a filtration system then needed to be installed to bring the water supply up to safe drinking standards. Finally, once this was all complete, extensive groundworks were completed to put the garden back to its former state.

Expertise in your corner

In the end, it took just over six months from our claims team being contacted, to our policyholder having a new, safe water system up and running. The total cost of the claim was just over £27,000, which itself shows the value of our cover. In addition to the financial support, the policyholder was also incredibly grateful to have had the benefit of our team’s advice, and their experience and expertise to evaluate options, and appoint drilling specialists and contractors during what was a worrying situation, and one requiring extensive works to resolve.