Who do I call about a blocked drain in Teesside?

Northumbrian Water first if neighbours are affected or the blockage appears to be beyond your boundary, since that work is free to you. A private firm if the fault is inside your boundary and serves only your house.

Do I pay if the blockage is on a shared drain?

Normally no. Shared drains transferred to the water company in 2011, so clearing them is part of what your water bill already covers.

Who is responsible for a blocked gully in the street?

The local council as highway authority. Report it to Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland or Hartlepool council depending on the address.

Is my landlord responsible for a blocked drain?

Yes for repairs to the drainage installations, under the landlord's repairing obligations. A tenant may be charged where the blockage was caused by misuse such as wipes or fat.

Who is responsible for a blocked drain?

In Teesside, the pipework inside your boundary that serves only your property is yours. Shared drains and the lateral drain beyond your boundary transferred to Northumbrian Water in 2011, and clearing those is normally free to you. Roads and gullies belong to the council.

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The rule in one paragraph

Since October 2011, the private sewers and lateral drains that used to belong to homeowners in England transferred to the regional water companies. On Teesside that is Northumbrian Water. In practice it means this: a drain that serves only your house and sits inside your boundary is your responsibility. The moment the pipe is shared with a neighbour, or crosses your boundary on its way to the public sewer, it is almost certainly the water company's. Highway gullies in the street are a third category and belong to the council.

How to work out which one you have

Are the neighbours affected? If several houses have slow or backing-up drains at once, the blockage is on the shared run and that is a water company job. This one question resolves most cases.
Where does the water stop? Lift the chambers in order from the house outwards. The blockage sits downstream of the last full chamber. If the full chamber is the one nearest the boundary, the fault is likely beyond your land.
Is it a gully in the road? Surface water gullies, road drainage and the grids at the kerb are the local authority's, so Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland or Hartlepool council depending on where you are.
Is it a private treatment plant or septic tank? Common on the rural fringe out towards the Cleveland villages. Entirely the owner's responsibility, with no water company involvement.

Make the free call first

Northumbrian Water will attend a blockage on their pipework at no charge to you, and they will tell you on the phone whether the symptoms sound like their responsibility. That call is worth five minutes before instructing anyone, because the alternative is paying £100 or more for a private clearance on a pipe you do not own. If they attend and find the fault is inside your boundary, you have lost nothing but the wait, and you now know exactly what you are paying for.

Landlords, tenants and shared buildings

In a rented house, drainage repairs are the landlord's obligation as part of keeping the structure and installations in repair. A tenant can still be charged where the blockage was clearly caused by misuse, wipes and cooking fat being the two usual arguments. In converted flats, which are common along the older streets of Saltburn and central Middlesbrough, responsibility depends on the lease and often falls to the freeholder or the management company for anything shared. Whoever ends up paying, the diagnosis is the same, and a camera survey is what settles a dispute about cause. Where the fault is genuinely yours, the cost guide benchmarks what the fix should run to.