Sewer connection to main line responsibility Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why you get the sewer coverage. It is done somehow through your Dominion bill.

That doesn’t cover much.

[Anonymous]

We had a leak under our driveway 6 years ago and it was $5k to fix. Central VA.

[Anonymous]

For many people, the property line is between the street and sidewalk (so a pipe under the front yard and extending under the sidewalk is all on their land).

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who lives in VA and she needs to repair the sewer pipe that leaves her house and goes to the main city sewer system. The connection to the main line is apparently under the sidewalk or street. She's been told that in her city in VA, the cost of repair - everything from her house, to the actual sewer main, is the homeowner's responsibility. If it involves tearing up a street or even sidewalk, that cost would be considerable!

I live in MD, and my understanding from WSSC is that homeowners here are only responsible for repairs to the end of our property line which does NOT include anything under a sidewalk, or curb, or street - anything there would be up to WSSC to repair.

Does this sound correct to you?

If so - it seems INSANE to me that people in NOVA are expected to arrange and pay for repairs under a paved city street. Is that actually happening? How can low income people even afford it?

You would be mistaken. Homeowner in MD is responsible to the street. I know because two years ago I had a leak. My pipes not only go under my driveway but also under a neighbors and under another neighbors yard before connecting at the street. I was responsible for the entire thing including the damage caused by the repair.

👀 much did that cost you? would homeowners insurance cover that?

Homeowners did not cover it. Just the plumbing part alone was $16k.

What was wrong? How old were your pipes?

I am interested in this too PP. WWhat went wrong and where was location of leak? How did you even find out?

There was a constant trickle of water at the bottom of our driveway. Leak was near the connection to the water main.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who lives in VA and she needs to repair the sewer pipe that leaves her house and goes to the main city sewer system. The connection to the main line is apparently under the sidewalk or street. She's been told that in her city in VA, the cost of repair - everything from her house, to the actual sewer main, is the homeowner's responsibility. If it involves tearing up a street or even sidewalk, that cost would be considerable!

I live in MD, and my understanding from WSSC is that homeowners here are only responsible for repairs to the end of our property line which does NOT include anything under a sidewalk, or curb, or street - anything there would be up to WSSC to repair.

Does this sound correct to you?

If so - it seems INSANE to me that people in NOVA are expected to arrange and pay for repairs under a paved city street. Is that actually happening? How can low income people even afford it?

You would be mistaken. Homeowner in MD is responsible to the street. I know because two years ago I had a leak. My pipes not only go under my driveway but also under a neighbors and under another neighbors yard before connecting at the street. I was responsible for the entire thing including the damage caused by the repair.

What county in MD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For many people, the property line is between the street and sidewalk (so a pipe under the front yard and extending under the sidewalk is all on their land).

Ack. OK, that’s a new piece of information. In what state and county is this true? How do you know exactly where your property line ends? In Maryland from what WSSC says, I thought it seemed pretty clear that they would be responsible for anything under the street up until the homeowners property started. I assumed that your property started when your land or grass started. The part you’re responsible to maintain and mow. Come to think of it. We are required to shovel our sidewalks, so maybe that is our property as well? Yet we are not required to maintain the surface of the sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

Arlington here and yes, your friend is correct. Cost us 30K and no homeowner insurance doesn't cover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who lives in VA and she needs to repair the sewer pipe that leaves her house and goes to the main city sewer system. The connection to the main line is apparently under the sidewalk or street. She's been told that in her city in VA, the cost of repair - everything from her house, to the actual sewer main, is the homeowner's responsibility. If it involves tearing up a street or even sidewalk, that cost would be considerable!

I live in MD, and my understanding from WSSC is that homeowners here are only responsible for repairs to the end of our property line which does NOT include anything under a sidewalk, or curb, or street - anything there would be up to WSSC to repair.

Does this sound correct to you?

If so - it seems INSANE to me that people in NOVA are expected to arrange and pay for repairs under a paved city street. Is that actually happening? How can low income people even afford it?

You would be mistaken. Homeowner in MD is responsible to the street. I know because two years ago I had a leak. My pipes not only go under my driveway but also under a neighbors and under another neighbors yard before connecting at the street. I was responsible for the entire thing including the damage caused by the repair.

+1
My neighbors had a sewer pipe repair several years ago and had to foot the whole bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why you get the sewer coverage. It is done somehow through your Dominion bill.

Does it really cover the full cost? WSSC was offering it through a contractor and then they quietly dropped it a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

We just had to deal with this. $6k for the repair. Bowed sewer line under our front yard. Luckily didnt' have to tear up any driveway to replace the broken portion, but it took 2 guys, a backhoe, and 3 days of work to resolve it.

When spring comes, we'll redo the landscaping as all the grass is town up and basically mud in that section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If so - it seems INSANE to me that people in NOVA are expected to arrange and pay for repairs under a paved city street. Is that actually happening? How can low income people even afford it?

Home ownership is not cheap. How do low income afford to replace the roof on their house? That costs more than many water/sewer fixes.

[Anonymous]

This has happened to two people I know, one in Montana ($25k repair) and one in Massachusetts ($15k repair).

I think it’s pretty universal that homeowners are responsible for the pipes out to the main.

Typically home equity is where they get the funds to cover it if they don’t have a solid savings account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has happened to two people I know, one in Montana ($25k repair) and one in Massachusetts ($15k repair).

I think it’s pretty universal that homeowners are responsible for the pipes out to the main.

Typically home equity is where they get the funds to cover it if they don’t have a solid savings account.

Pipes from your house under your yard, I understand being the responsibility of the home owner.

It's the part about them being responsible for repairs that are located under a city or county street that I don't understand. I just always thought if a street needs to be broken up and dug down into, that the city or county handles that. I think that would make the most sense for them to come through one time, when they maybe are repairing something else, and just put in new connections to the homeowner's laterals from the main. Doesn't that make more sense financially - to do it all at once on a street, replace all the pipes, and then fill the road back in and pave it.

It just doesn't make sense for each individual person on a street block - say the block has 40 houses on it - as each set of individual connections from the main to the lateral starts to rust out (and they were probably put in almost 90 years ago) that each individual house... 40 of them -- individually digs up just their portion of the street and gets the repair, and then paves over in a patchwork fashion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If so - it seems INSANE to me that people in NOVA are expected to arrange and pay for repairs under a paved city street. Is that actually happening? How can low income people even afford it?

Home ownership is not cheap. How do low income afford to replace the roof on their house? That costs more than many water/sewer fixes.

There are often grants to help low income people who own a house pay for a new roof. But I'm not aware of any for sewer repair... Maybe they exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why you get the sewer coverage. It is done somehow through your Dominion bill.

Does it really cover the full cost? WSSC was offering it through a contractor and then they quietly dropped it a few years ago.

PP who had to do a repair. One of the issues with coverage is that it limits coverage to a certain distance from your house. So if the distance to the water main is greater, it’s pretty useless coverage. I looked into it. For me, the distance is close to a city block and my insurance agent said not to waste money.