Sewer Line outside house broken. Who is responsible for repairs?

The situation below is NOT Sandy-hurricane related. An area of the street next to my house (in Brooklyn)  started to develop a small sink hole.  The DEP came here and tested (with a camera) the sewers for all of the houses surrounding it, and the result is that mine is one of the two houses that has a collapsed sewer line.   These are the original “clay” ones, which are probably 90-100 years old.   My question is this.  Since the problem starts at 37 feet AWAY from my sewer trap inside the house  (which is about 27 feet from my house foundation), is it correct what DEP is saying (after giving me a Cease and Desist order) that it is only the house owner(s) that is responsible for all repairs (including all expenses) until the area where my sewer line enters the city’s main line that runs down the middle of the street (estimated to be around 60 feet from my house sewer trap). I just want to make sure that this is true before ending up paying for something that NYC DEP maybe partially responsible for.    I realize that I need to hire someone with a Master Plumber licesnes in order to do this work.   Any and all suggestions are appreciated

mystiky

in Sewer 12 years and 7 months ago

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brandonser | 11 years and 7 months ago

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I have used Harris Water Main & Sewer for a few of my houses over the years and will continue to use them. They do great work and are very fairly priced, some of the other companies are looking to get rich overnight with their pricing!

Guest User | 12 years and 6 months ago

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My neighbor had to pay for her sewer line to be fixed as well, but there’s something called a J51, which you can apply for for something like this and then you’ll get a tax abatement as a result of the monies you spent. Here’s the link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/developers/j51.shtml. Evidently “it’s the best kept secret in NY” until now.

snowman2 | 12 years and 7 months ago

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Beware Mainmain.  I recommended them in the past, but no longer.

Months after their (industry standard) 10 year guarantee ran out and 20-40 years before standard life expectancy, I had huge flooding pouring into my cellar which was determined to be due to Mainman’s failed water main.  In tracing the leak (which involved replacing the water main again) it was found that the massive leak was due to a totally failed coupling which was connecting 2 short pieces of water main buried underground in my front garden where there NEVER should have been a coupling.  Furthermore, the coupling was overtightened and was probably cracked during the install. I used Figlioa second time around.

jockdeboeraia | 12 years and 7 months ago

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Yes, you will foot the bill.  Call Lou at Richmond. He did mine real quick and for a good price.

BobMarvin | 12 years and 7 months ago

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I used Alix Figliolia about 15 years ago; they did a fine job. IIRC the other “standard” Brooklyn company is Harris.

mystiky | 12 years and 7 months ago

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John:  I already had the lead pipe changed to copper a while back, so that has already been taken care of a numbers of years ago.  The DEP has assured me that the water main is fine, as they ran 2 tests on it (one with and without dye).  Again, if anyone else has any suggestions or input whom to use, my ears are open.

shahnandersen

in Sewer 12 years and 7 months ago

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Afraid so. You are responsible for the sewer and water lines from the main inscluding the connection to the main. The sewer and water mains that run parallel to the street are DEP’s responsibility. The perpendicular branch to the house is yours. You’re looking at upwards of $5000 in cost. If you have the original lead water main you may want to consider replacing that now as well if the contractor will give you a break on the combo. If the sewer main break was bad enough to create a sink hole and undermine the street it may have compromised your water main as well.