Council & Housing Association TenantsBlocked Drains & Sewage Compensation Claims
Drains backing up, a toilet that will not flush, or sewage coming up in the garden? This is a health risk and your landlord has to deal with it. We help council and housing association tenants in England and Wales. Check where you stand in 60 seconds.
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Signs Of A Drainage Problem
Drainage is one of the problems tenants get passed around on the most. The landlord says ring the water company, the water company says ring the landlord, and nothing happens while sewage sits in the garden.
The simple rule is that the pipework inside your property boundary is your landlord's responsibility, and the shared sewer beyond it is the water company's. Working out which one it is should not be your job.
Signs To Look For In Your Home:
Sinks, baths or toilets draining slowly or not at all
Water backing up when you flush or run a tap
Sewage overflowing from a drain or manhole
A drain smell in the bathroom, kitchen or garden
Gurgling from the pipes when water drains away
A garden or path that floods and will not drain
Damp on a wall where a drain or gully sits outside
Rats or flies around an outside drain
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Is Your Landlord Responsible For The Drains?
Your landlord must keep the drains, gullies and waste pipes serving your home in repair, along with the baths, sinks and toilets themselves. Blocked drains and sewage are treated as emergency repairs because of the health risk.
If your landlord tells you it is the water company, ask them in writing to confirm that in writing. In practice, most drainage problems in a social housing property sit on the landlord's side of the boundary.
Your Landlord Is Usually Responsible For:
Drains and waste pipes inside your property boundary
Gullies, soil stacks and outside drain covers
Baths, sinks, toilets and their waste connections
Drains shared with other properties they own
Cracked, collapsed or root damaged pipework
Clearing and disinfecting after a sewage escape
Repairing damp or damage a drainage fault caused
Can I Claim For Drainage Problems?
You May Have A Claim If:
You rent from a council or housing association
Your home is in England or Wales
You reported the drainage problem and it was not fixed
It affected your health, your home or your belongings
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Who Can Make A Drainage Disrepair Claim?
We act for council and housing association tenants in England and Wales. If you rent from a private landlord or letting agent, or your home is in Scotland, we are not able to take your claim. Your council's environmental health team and Shelter can both advise you instead.
Raw sewage inside a home is a serious health hazard. If it is in your property now, report it as an emergency and contact environmental health the same day. Do not wait for a claim.
The one thing to know
If a drain keeps blocking after someone has cleared it, that is usually a sign of a fault in the pipework rather than anything you have put down the sink. Once you have reported it and nothing has really changed, you may be able to take action.
Who Is Responsible, The Landlord Or The Water Company?
This is the question that gets tenants passed back and forth for months, so it is worth being clear about.
Your landlord
Your landlord is responsible for the drains and waste pipes that serve only your property and sit within its boundary, along with the baths, sinks, toilets and the pipes running from them. A cracked, collapsed or root damaged private drain is a repair for them.
The water company
Since 2011 most shared drains and lateral drains beyond your boundary transferred to the water companies. If the blockage is in the public sewer, your water company deals with it, usually free of charge, and you can call them directly.
If you are being passed between the two
Report it to both, in writing, and say plainly that you have been told the other is responsible. Ask each of them to confirm their position in writing. That paper trail resolves most of these disputes, and if it does not, it becomes the evidence.
How Much Compensation For Drainage Problems?
There is no fixed payout. Compensation is usually made up of two parts.
General damages
This covers the loss of enjoyment of your home. Courts often work it out as a proportion of the rent you paid while the problem continued. Not being able to use a bathroom or a toilet, or not being able to let children in the garden, pushes the proportion higher.
Special damages
This covers money you actually lost. Flooring, carpets and furniture contaminated by a sewage escape, cleaning products, launderette costs, and anything you paid a drainage firm yourself. Keep every receipt and photograph the damage.
If anyone in the household became unwell as a result, a personal injury element may also be considered.
What affects the amount
- How long the problem went unresolved
- Whether sewage escaped inside the property
- Whether you lost the use of a bathroom or toilet
- Whether children or older people live in the home
- Whether damp or pests followed
- The value of flooring and belongings you lost
- Whether you reported it and were ignored
We cannot tell you what your claim is worth until we have seen your evidence. Every case is different.
Your Landlord's Legal Responsibilities
Drainage sits across repair law and public health law, which gives you more than one route.
Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
Your landlord must keep the structure and exterior in repair, including drains, gutters and external pipes, and must keep the installations for sanitation in repair and proper working order. That covers basins, sinks, baths and toilets.
What landlords often say
“That drain is blocked because of what you have been putting down the sink and the toilet, so it is not a repair for us.”
What the law says
Drains and external pipework are part of the structure and exterior your landlord has to keep in repair. A blockage that keeps coming back usually points to a defect in the pipe, such as a crack, a collapse or tree roots, rather than to anything a tenant has done.
Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018
Your home must be fit to live in for the whole of your tenancy. Drainage and sanitation are expressly part of how fitness is judged, and you can take your landlord to court directly under this Act.
Your home has to be fit to live in the whole time you are there, not just on the day you got the keys. If you cannot use a toilet or a bath, or waste water keeps coming back up into the property, that is very hard for anyone to call fit.
Housing Health and Safety Rating System
Personal hygiene, sanitation and drainage is a recognised hazard category under the Housing Act 2004. Your council's environmental health team can inspect and require action, and sewage is exactly the sort of thing they act on quickly.
Statutory nuisance
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, drainage or sewage that is prejudicial to health can be a statutory nuisance. This route can be used even where the landlord is the council itself.
What to do if your landlord will not fix the drains
Awaab's Law deadlines
24 hours
Sewage backing up into the home is an emergency hazard and must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours.
30 Nov 2026
Domestic hygiene hazards come under Awaab's Law from 30 November 2026.
Reasonable time
Drains are part of the structure your landlord must keep in repair under Section 11, within a reasonable time.
- Report it in writing and ask for it to be treated as an emergency
- Report it to your water company too if you are being passed between them
- Photograph and video the overflow, the damage and anything contaminated
- Keep a diary of every visit and every time the blockage came back
- Ask in writing whether the drain has ever been surveyed with a camera
- Contact your council's environmental health team about the health risk
- Make a formal complaint through your landlord's complaints procedure
- Escalate to the Housing Ombudsman once that complaints process is exhausted
- Get free legal advice about a housing disrepair claim
How To Make A Drainage Disrepair Claim
From your first enquiry to getting repairs done and compensation paid, here's what to expect.
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1
Complete Our Form
Fill in your details so we can confirm eligibility and understand your situation.
2
Share Your Evidence
Send us photos, videos, and any messages you've sent to your landlord about the issues.
3
Letter of Claim
Your solicitor sends a formal claim to your landlord, starting the legal process.
4
Property Inspection
An independent surveyor inspects the property to assess and document the disrepair.
5
Repairs & Compensation
Your landlord arranges the necessary repairs and you receive any compensation you are owed.
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Where is the property located?
Section 1: Location
Drainage Claims: Frequently Asked Questions
Usually yes, where the blockage is in a drain or waste pipe that serves your property and sits within its boundary. Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 your landlord must keep drains and external pipes in repair, and must keep baths, sinks and toilets in proper working order. Blockages in the public sewer beyond your boundary are the water company's.