Who Owns Water and Sewer Pipes on a Wellington Property?

Quick answer

On a Wellington property the owner is responsible for the water supply pipe from the toby to the house, and Tiaki Wai looks after the pipe on the street side. Sewer laterals differ by council: Wellington City covers the part under public roads, Lower Hutt owners own the lateral to the main, Porirua owners own it to the boundary, and Upper Hutt may reimburse defects on public laterals.

Most arguments about who pays for a pipe repair come down to one question: which side of a line is the fault on? For drinking water that line is the toby. For sewage it is set by your council, and the four cities in the Tiaki Wai area each drew it in a different place.

Below we work through each pipe on a typical section, from the water main in the street to the sewer at the bottom of the garden, and explain what to check before you agree to pay for a repair.

Who is responsible for the water pipe from the toby to the house?

You are. The pipe from the toby to the house is the private supply pipe, and the property owner or occupier owns and maintains it.

Wellington City's water bylaw splits the connection in two. The service pipe runs from the public main to the point of supply and belongs to the council, now operated by Tiaki Wai. The supply pipe runs from the point of supply into the property and belongs to the customer. Tiaki Wai describes the point of supply as the water toby, in a plastic box under the ground, and says leaks on the property are the owner's to repair.

On older inner-city sections that private pipe can be long and awkward. In Thorndon and Mt Victoria it can climb steps or run under a narrow side path to a villa set back from the street, and in Thorndon original pipe and clay drains are still common. When the supply pipe fails, the repair is private work, whether that is a short patch or a new length of pipe, which is what our water main repairs service covers.

The toby valve matters as much as the pipe. If it is seized or buried, you cannot isolate the house in an emergency. A plumber can fit a new property-side isolation valve so you are not relying on one buried under the berm; that is the job our shut-off valves page describes.

Who pays to fix a sewer lateral in Wellington City, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua?

It depends on which council area you are in. Tiaki Wai publishes the rules for each one, and they are genuinely different.

In Wellington City the council is responsible for any part of the wastewater lateral in public roads, while owners keep responsibility for the parts on their own land, on a neighbour's land, or on other public land such as a reserve. In Lower Hutt owners own and maintain the lateral all the way to the council main. In Porirua owners look after the lateral inside their boundary and the council owns it from the boundary to the main. Upper Hutt has private laterals and public laterals, and the council may reimburse reasonable costs on a public lateral when a defect caused the blockage.

If a CCTV survey shows a cracked or root-filled lateral on your side of the line, the fix is a private drain repair. In Karori and Khandallah, where mature trees and old drain lines meet, root intrusion is one of the more common reasons a lateral needs drain repairs.

Council area	Owner looks after	Council looks after
Wellington City	Lateral on your property, a neighbour's property or other public land such as a reserve	Lateral under public roads
Lower Hutt	The whole lateral, up to where it joins the council main	The main
Upper Hutt	Private laterals; public lateral blockages with no obvious defect	Public laterals; may reimburse reasonable costs where CCTV confirms a defect
Porirua	Lateral inside the property boundary	Lateral from the boundary to the main, plus the last 1.5 m before a main on private land

Who fixes a leak on the street side of the toby?

Tiaki Wai does. A leak on the service pipe, the main or the toby itself is a public fault, and you report it on 0800 842 549 or through the Tiaki Wai website.

A quick test helps you work out which side the water is coming from. Turn the toby off. If the wet patch is inside your boundary and stops spreading, the leak is probably on your supply pipe. If water keeps bubbling up in the berm or footpath with the toby closed, it is most likely on the public side.

Be ready for a wait on small public leaks. Tiaki Wai prioritises the biggest leaks, those of 40 litres a minute or more, and says smaller ones such as a leaking toby may take longer. Report it anyway, and add a photo, because every report helps a network that lost an average of 37% of its water in 2025/26.

Not sure whose pipe it is?

We can locate the fault, record it on camera and tell you which side of the line it sits on before any repair is quoted.

0800 758 622 Book Online Get a quote

Who owns a private drain shared with neighbours?

A drain that serves more than one house is still a private drain, and the owners it serves generally share responsibility for it. The exact split is set by the easement on your certificate of title and by council bylaws, not by a single national rule.

This is common on Wellington hill sections, where a rear house drains through the front section on its way to the main. The NZ Government's guidance on neighbourhood problems says neighbours may share drain costs and points owners to their title and their council for who pays. Read the easement instrument before work starts; it often covers access, repair and reinstatement.

Tiaki Wai adds one useful rule: if an easement on your property carries a pipe that does not serve your home, you are not responsible for it. You do have to allow the neighbour or utility to come onto the land to fix it, and they should restore the surface as closely as possible afterwards.

When neighbours disagree about whose section a blockage is on, a camera survey that records the pipe and the distance to the fault settles it quickly. Agree in writing who is paying before the plumber starts digging.

What happens if a public main runs through my property?

The main stays public, and you must give Tiaki Wai access to maintain it. Your own connection to it is usually still yours, so check which council rules apply.

Porirua spells this out most clearly. Where a wastewater main runs through private land, the owner looks after their lateral up to 1.5 m from the main, and Porirua City Council is responsible for that last 1.5 m. That matters on the rolling hill country around Porirua city and Whitby, where mains often follow gullies across back yards. Our plumber Porirua page covers the whole area.

Before building a deck, retaining wall or extension near a public pipe, talk to your council and Tiaki Wai first. Work over or beside a main can be held up, or need redesigning, if it blocks access to the pipe.

How does a CCTV drain inspection settle who pays?

A camera survey shows exactly where a fault is and what caused it, which is the evidence councils ask for when cost is in dispute.

Upper Hutt is the clearest example. Its rules say the owner first needs to employ a plumber or drainlayer to establish the cause of the blockage. If a CCTV recording confirms a defect such as tree roots or a collapsed pipe in a public lateral, the council will consider reimbursing reasonable costs. Without that evidence, or where there is no obvious defect, the owner pays.

A CCTV drain inspection also helps when Tiaki Wai has written to say it found minor faults in your lateral during a survey. There is no set deadline to fix minor faults, and the decision to repair is yours, but knowing the pipe's condition lets you plan rather than wait for a blockage.

Keep the recording and the report. Cheeky's Plumbers gives you both, so you have the evidence ready if you are dealing with a council, a neighbour or an insurer.

Who is responsible for stormwater pipes and downpipes?

Private stormwater pipes on your section are your responsibility, and in Upper Hutt stormwater laterals are always the owner's job down to the point of discharge.

Roof downpipes must connect to the stormwater system, not the wastewater system. If a downpipe drops into a gully trap, Tiaki Wai says it needs redirecting to stormwater, because rainwater in the sewer overloads it in heavy rain.

On steep sections the discharge point matters too. GeoNet linked many of the 2022 Wellington slips to saturated soil, and water released onto a bank is one way soil gets saturated. If you are unsure where your stormwater goes, you can book online and Cheeky's Plumbers will trace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the toby belong to me or to Tiaki Wai?

The toby is the point of supply between the public service pipe and your private supply pipe. In Wellington City it is normally about 450 mm inside the boundary, in the berm where possible. A leaking toby is reported to Tiaki Wai.

Is a sewer lateral the same as a drain?

A lateral is the single pipe that carries wastewater from your property to the public sewer main. Drains on your section, such as the pipes from the kitchen, bathroom and gully trap, all feed into it.

Does insurance cover a broken lateral?

Some house policies cover sudden damage to private pipes and some exclude gradual wear or tree roots. Check your policy wording and keep any CCTV report, because insurers usually want to know the cause.

Who is responsible for pipes in Kāpiti?

Kāpiti is not part of Tiaki Wai. Kāpiti Coast District Council runs its own water services and says property owners are responsible for repairing leaks in their homes and private supply pipes.

What if a council tree damages my private lateral?

In Upper Hutt the council will consider reimbursing reasonable costs where a CCTV recording confirms a council tree damaged a private lateral. In other areas, contact your council with the footage.