I think I've got a leak
Here are the telltale signs you have a leak:
- Reduced water pressure
- Damp patches on the ground
- Noisy pipework
- Lush greenery during dry weather
- Your meter reading is really high.
Leaks in your home or garden
Check for leaks
If you’ve got a water meter and think there’s a leak, you can check by following these simple steps:
- Turn off all the taps in your home and make sure no water is going into cisterns or storage tanks
- Read your water meter
- Leave the water turned off for 15 to 60 minutes
- Read your water meter again.
If your second meter reading is higher than the first, you may have a leak.
Fixing a leak in your home or garden
If you live in a rented property, you should contact your landlord and tell them about the problem.
If you own the property, you should check if your plumbing is covered by your home insurance or a seperate policy. Your insurer will be able to give you advice about making a claim.
If your insurance doesn't cover the problem you'll need to contact a plumber.
Search WaterSafe's list of qualified plumbers.
01156 472 850
Leaks in the road or footpath
At Yorkshire Water, we’re usually responsible for most of the pipework outside the street boundary.
This includes:
- water mains
- stop taps in the road or pavement (NB. We currently will not renew any existing inoperable external stop-taps or provide a new external stop-tap, unless there is an urgent risk to health such as no water to the property or a confirmed serious leak.)
- the communication pipe leading up to the boundary of your home.
Your water meter and its connections also belong to us and we’ll take care of any repairs or replacements.
Please note: Where your water supply is fed from a YW Main pipe in a neighbouring street, supply pipes under a highway/public footpath are still the customer responsibility to maintain.
Check if we already know about the problem
View our map to see whether we're already aware of the problem.
Report a leak in the road or footpath
Let us know about leaks in our pipes as soon as possible so we can get them sorted.
I’m on a meter, will there be an allowance on my bill?
If you’re on a meter, then you could be entitled to an allowance.
The leak must have been repaired or you've asked us to look into the problem in the last 28 days. The leak must not have been caused by your negligence.
This allowance will be either for excess water charges from a leak or for wastage from faulty plumbing.
You may only claim once. If the pipe we repaired leaks again and it's still under guarantee, you might get another allowance.
How much will I get back?
If you get an allowance, we'll work this out based on the amount of water you normally use.
If we can’t find that out, we’ll base it on what a typical customer like you would use.
If your actual water use is different from our estimate after the leak has been repaired, we may review the allowance.
We’ll also adjust the sewerage charges you pay based on the water recorded by your meter.
Can I prevent leaks?
During cold weather, your pipes inside and out are at risk, especially if they’re not properly protected. But there are things you can do:
- Check that all pipes, cisterns and tanks in unheated areas, like lofts and cellars, are well insulated - use waterproof foam lagging or insulated tape.
- Keep your heating on low during cold spells – set your timer to constant and use your thermostat to keep it warm.
- Make sure you know where your stop tap is, just in case there’s a burst pipe.
- If you’re going away, ask your neighbours to pop round to check your pipes haven’t frozen or burst.
Protect your property with HomeServe
HomeServe offer a range of policies, and if things go wrong, an approved engineer will be there to get things sorted.
How do we fix leaks?
Read our step by step guide on how we fix leaks or see what happened when we sent our leakage technician Andy to visit Ella and Jamie to give them a behind-the-scenes overview!
