Sewer connection to main line responsibility Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I always assumed most houses were like mine where we each had a water main access near the sidewalk. That's where the water company would shut off your water if there was an issue and it doesn't impact your neighbors. For my repair, the water main is near my mailbox. So yard - sidewalk - strip of grass/mailbox - road. Our water main was on that strip of grass, next to the mailbox. We definitely own that strip. I haven't seen any roads that need to be torn up when neighbors do the repairs, but plenty of driveways.

[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.

Blue tarps.

[Anonymous]

Different localities in VA have different rules. It all depends on which county/city/town you live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There is no uniformity at all where the property line is.

Just within DC, sometimes the property line is the front facade of the house, sometimes even the porch and bay window are in public space. Sometimes the property line is between the sidewalk and the yard, sometimes it's the curb of the street. You need to look at a surveyor's map, that's the only way to know.

Fortunately it's all online now, you used to have to go down to the Register of Deeds.

[Anonymous]

In Alexandria we had to do this. The homeowner policy they offer is a scam. It has so many exclusions and a cap. It didn’t pay a penny. We’re in old town and the water company did the replacement from the middle of the street to out tie in, which was under the sidewalk in front of our house. There was an old access point in the sidewalk there. From there to our basement, we had to pay. It was pricey bc we had to lift up the old brick sidewalk and out it back down exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Alexandria we had to do this. The homeowner policy they offer is a scam. It has so many exclusions and a cap. It didn’t pay a penny. We’re in old town and the water company did the replacement from the middle of the street to out tie in, which was under the sidewalk in front of our house. There was an old access point in the sidewalk there. From there to our basement, we had to pay. It was pricey bc we had to lift up the old brick sidewalk and out it back down exactly.

Interesting... in VA it looks like each county has its own municipal water and sewer company?

Alexandria City says this about who repairs sewer pipes: if the lateral was installed before or after 1955 makes a difference:

Property Owner Responsibilities

Residents are important partners in the City's work to maintain Alexandria's sewer connections and prevent backups.

Sewer laterals are pipes that carry sanitary sewage from buildings to the City's sewer mains.

For sewer laterals installed before July 1, 1955, it is the responsibility of the individual property owner to maintain and repair laterals from the curb to the property.

For sewer laterals installed on or after July 1, 1955, it is the responsibility of the individual property owner to maintain and repair everything from the infrastructure to the actual sewer main.

https://www.alexandriava.gov/public-works/sewer-and-hydrant-maintenance

[Anonymous]

And the City of Fairfax expects property owners to repair pretty much everything BUT they will give a partial reimbursement

https://www.fairfaxva.gov/government/public-works/wastewater-lateral-repair-and-replacement-program

[Anonymous]

OP again. I just think that it is completely predictable that a LOT of sewer pipes and connections are going to start failing and need replacing in the next 2 decades. And it will be a bit of a surprise to people. Yeah, everyone knows that roofs need replacing every 25-30 years, even if you don't plan for it. You know that siding will need to be replaced.

But all these sewer and water pipes that were put in in the 1940s and 50s are 75-80 years old now and they were probably only ever supposed to last 100 years. It's one thing to spend $1000 to clear a clog, it's another thing to spend $25,000 to rip up a sidewalk and street and put in all new pipe and then repair it all.

[Anonymous]

The real outrage are the plumbers charging 25k for something that costs 8k, I know because when we build houses that's the cost without profit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Alexandria we had to do this. The homeowner policy they offer is a scam. It has so many exclusions and a cap. It didn’t pay a penny. We’re in old town and the water company did the replacement from the middle of the street to out tie in, which was under the sidewalk in front of our house. There was an old access point in the sidewalk there. From there to our basement, we had to pay. It was pricey bc we had to lift up the old brick sidewalk and out it back down exactly.

Interesting... in VA it looks like each county has its own municipal water and sewer company?

Alexandria City says this about who repairs sewer pipes: if the lateral was installed before or after 1955 makes a difference:

Property Owner Responsibilities

Residents are important partners in the City's work to maintain Alexandria's sewer connections and prevent backups.

Sewer laterals are pipes that carry sanitary sewage from buildings to the City's sewer mains.

For sewer laterals installed before July 1, 1955, it is the responsibility of the individual property owner to maintain and repair laterals from the curb to the property.

For sewer laterals installed on or after July 1, 1955, it is the responsibility of the individual property owner to maintain and repair everything from the infrastructure to the actual sewer main.

https://www.alexandriava.gov/public-works/sewer-and-hydrant-maintenance

Yes it varies within No VA and in city of Alexandria the age of pipes matters. We dealt with this in del Ray last year and city bore cost because the problem was between the curb and the main line in center of street. We had paid for diagnostic work which included removing sidewalk to see where the problem was, but city covered filling it back in. Plumber said if we’d been in other nearby areas we would have had to pay the whole thing which was over $20k.

[Anonymous]

Yes it is true. Va Water has an insurence plan you can enroll in to cover both the sewer line and the water line (also your responsibility)

My water bill was getting higher and higher so we called them out. Sure enough, the 60 year old galvanized pipe was leKing like a sieve. They replaced it with new copper and We didn't pay a dime. Contractors told me it would normally be $7000. This was in Del Ray in 2018

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real outrage are the plumbers charging 25k for something that costs 8k, I know because when we build houses that's the cost without profit.

It depends though, if you’re building the house you’re not having to redo the landscaping, the little retaining wall by the driveway, any of a bunch of other things that could come up.

This is one of those things I think realtors should talk to their first time buyers about because if you know you won’t have that much cash available you need to suck it up and add it to your insurance. These things are kind of a lottery past a certain age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is true. Va Water has an insurence plan you can enroll in to cover both the sewer line and the water line (also your responsibility)

My water bill was getting higher and higher so we called them out. Sure enough, the 60 year old galvanized pipe was leKing like a sieve. They replaced it with new copper and We didn't pay a dime. Contractors told me it would normally be $7000. This was in Del Ray in 2018

Of course it cost you, you paid it in premiums. We priced this out and it seemed like a wash. It’s kind of like pet insurance, it’s more for financing than really saving yourself $.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is true. Va Water has an insurence plan you can enroll in to cover both the sewer line and the water line (also your responsibility)

My water bill was getting higher and higher so we called them out. Sure enough, the 60 year old galvanized pipe was leKing like a sieve. They replaced it with new copper and We didn't pay a dime. Contractors told me it would normally be $7000. This was in Del Ray in 2018

Of course it cost you, you paid it in premiums. We priced this out and it seemed like a wash. It’s kind of like pet insurance, it’s more for financing than really saving yourself $.

We paid $8 a month for four years. So, $384. Versus $7000.

Not a wash. We ducked a $6600 bill.