Building Act 1984

22 Drainage of buildings in combination

(1) Where—

(a) a local authority might under section 21 above require each of two or more buildings to be drained separately into an existing sewer, but

(b) it appears to the authority that those buildings may be drained more economically or advantageously in combination,

the authority may, when the drains of the buildings are first laid, require that the buildings be drained in combination into the existing sewer by means of a private sewer to be constructed either by the owners of the buildings in such manner as the authority may direct or, if the authority so elect, by the authority on behalf of the owners.

(2) A local authority shall not, except by agreement with the owners concerned, exercise the power conferred by subsection (1) above in respect of any building for whose drainage plans have been previously passed by them.

(3) A local authority who make such a requirement as aforesaid shall fix—

(a) the proportions in which the expenses of constructing, and of maintaining and repairing, the private sewer are to be borne by the owners concerned, or

(b) in a case in which the distance of the existing sewer from the site of any of the buildings in question is or exceeds one hundred feet, the proportions in which those expenses are to borne by the owners concerned and the local authority,

and shall forthwith give notice of their decision to each owner affected.

(4) An owner aggrieved by the decision of a local authority under subsection (3) above may appeal to a magistrates' court

(5) Subject to any such appeal—

(a) any expenses reasonably incurred in constructing, or in maintaining or repairing, the private sewer shall be borne in the proportions so fixed, and

(b) those expenses, or, as the case may be, contributions to them, may be recovered accordingly by the persons, whether the local authority or the owners, by whom they were incurred in the first instance.

(6) A sewer constructed by a local authority under this section is not deemed a public sewer by reason of the fact that the expenses of its construction are in the first instance defrayed by the authority, or that some part of those expenses is borne by them.