Water Act 1989

49 Powers to disconnect service pipes and cut off supplies

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section and, in the case of a supply provided under section 46 above, to any terms or conditions determined under that section, a water undertaker may disconnect a service pipe which for the purposes of providing a supply of water to any premises is connected with any water main of that undertaker, or may otherwise cut off a supply of water to any premises, if—

(a) it is reasonable for the disconnection to be made, or the supply to be cut off, for the purposes of the carrying out of any necessary works;

(b) the occupier of the premises—

(i) is liable (whether in his capacity as occupier or under any agreement with the undertaker) to pay charges due to the undertaker in respect of the supply of water to those premises; and

(ii) has failed to do so before the end of the period of seven days beginning with the day after he is served with notice requiring him to do so;

or

(c) notice specifying the time after which a supply of water to those premises will no longer be required has been served on the undertaker by a consumer and that time has passed.

(2) The power of a water undertaker by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) above to cut off a supply of water shall include power to reduce a supply of water; and, except in an emergency or in the case of a reduction which is immaterial, the power of a water undertaker by virtue of that paragraph to cut off or reduce a supply shall be exercisable in relation to any premises only after the undertaker has served reasonable notice on the consumer of the proposal for the carrying out of the necessary works.

(3) Where a water undertaker exercises its power by virtue of the said paragraph (a) to make any disconnection or to cut off or reduce a supply of water to any premises for the purposes of the carrying out of any necessary works, it shall owe a duty to the consumer to secure—

(a) that those works are carried out with reasonable dispatch; and

(b) that any supply of water to those premises for domestic purposes is interrupted for more than twenty-four hours for the purposes of the carrying out of those works only if an emergency supply has been made available (whether or not in pipes) within a reasonable distance of those premises;

and any breach by a water undertaker of that duty which causes any person to whom it is owed to sustain loss or damage shall be actionable at the suit of that person.

(4) Where a water undertaker has served a notice for the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above on a person who, within the period of seven days mentioned in that paragraph, serves a notice on the undertaker stating that he disputes his liability to pay the charges in question, the undertaker shall not exercise his power by virtue of that paragraph in relation to any premises except at a time when that person is the occupier of the premises and—

(a) the undertaker is able to enforce a judgment against that person for the payment of the charges in question; or

(b) that person is in breach of an agreement entered into, since the service of his notice, for the purpose of avoiding or settling proceedings by the undertaker for the recovery of those charges.

(5) A water undertaker which exercises its power by virtue of the said paragraph (b) to disconnect any pipe or otherwise to cut off any supply of water may recover, from the person in respect of whose liability the power is exercised, any expenses reasonably incurred by the undertaker in making the disconnection or in otherwise cutting off the supply.

(6) Where—

(a) a water undertaker has power by virtue of the said paragraph (b) to disconnect any pipe to any premises, or otherwise to cut off any supply to any premises; and

(b) a supply of water is provided to those premises and to other premises wholly or partly by the same service pipe,

the undertaker may exercise that power so as to cut off the supply to those other premises if and only if the same person is the occupier of the premises in relation to which the charges are due and of the other premises.

(7) No person shall be liable to a water undertaker for any expenses incurred by the undertaker in exercising the power conferred on the undertaker by virtue of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) above.

(8) Where a water undertaker disconnects a service pipe to any inhabited house, or otherwise cuts off a supply of water to such a house, without restoring that supply before the end of the period of twenty-four hours beginning with the time when it is cut off, the undertaker shall, no later than forty-eight hours after that time, serve notice that it has cut off that supply on the local authority in whose area the house is situated.

(9) A water undertaker which —

(a) disconnects a service pipe to any premises, or otherwise cuts off a supply of water to any premises, in a case in which it has no power to do so under this section, section 63 below or any other enactment;

(b) in disconnecting any such pipe or cutting off any such supply fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirement of this section, that section or, as the case may be, the other enactment in pursuance of which it disconnects the pipe or cuts off the supply; or

(c) fails, without reasonable excuse, to serve a notice on a local authority as required by subsection (8) above,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.