No water in new build

[addob]

I’m looking for advice on my new apartment. I closed in December and moved in completely on January 1st. All of the problems associated with a new apartment and a new build have been ironed out bar one. Water.
It started in mid-January that the water pressure would be low in the morning, just a trickle but not enough pressure to have a shower. I spoke to the site foreman at this time just in case it was only our apartment that was affected but was told that the water pressure, particularly in our phase of the development and on the higher floors were affected. He said that when the buildings were build they were attached to the mains at one end and now that the development has grown they need to be connected to the mains again as there’s not enough pressure for the entire development.
This seemed to make sense as there was plenty of water at off peak times, evenings and late at night. I was also told by the builder that they were just waiting on the County Council for permission to link up to the main and we’d be fine, he expected this to be done in the next few weeks. No problem!
Well now its many months later and the water is worse, there is now no water for most of the day, and on weekends. I have contacted the building company on several occasions by e-mail and every time get the same answer: ‘this week’, ‘hopefully by the end of this week’, ‘we expect it to be done by the end of the week’. There is a hole in the ground beside the build that shows the main water pipe for the county council, it has been like this for several weeks, still not connected.
I’m looking for any suggestions as I‘m not getting anywhere with the builder, is there a right to water or something like that? My parents are coming to visit soon and without getting too graphic, you can only get one flush out of the toilet in the morning as there’s no water to refill the tank!

Thanks,
addob

 

[Wicklow]

I suggest you contact your solicitor as you are having no joy with the builder. While the builder may well be at the mercy of the Co Co in terms of water connection, that really shouldnt be your problem and its important that you have your problems well documented. As for a 'right to water'; you most certainly do have a right, it may not be spelt out in the contract but running water in a new build is most def to be expected. It might also be of benifit to contact the Co Co direct just to see if the builder as actually done anything about it.

 

[nai]

i'd advise you to contact the Engineer in the Water Division of the council directly. We were in a similar situation when we moved into our housing estate a few years back - whole estate was losing pressure - turned out that all the builders promises to fix it next week .... were bull ! The engineer gave us the story straight up - builders had been advised that there wasn't sufficient pressure (at end of mains) to supply the estate and they were only supposed to release a limited number of houses until it was sorted. Eventually the builders had to build an underground resevoir with pumping station to supply the water until Water mains upgrade finishes (due this year).

 

[addob]

Thanks guys, contacted the County Council and they have checked their records and applications and have no requests, have now sent off yet another e-mail requesting... ok demanding an explanation. I have the correspondance from the buliders saved in case I need it, funny it's just about bang on every 4 weeks! The solicitor is the next step, although he wasn't particularly brilliant in the first place. Any idea how much he'd charge for this follow-up of sorts?