# Sogedo issue



## Agaze

Hi 
Living in UK Post husbands death and only get to France once every 6 months to check on land just 2 hectares used for camping no building 
Problem 
The water tap before my water meter broke I.e Sogedos property
Sadly because either a.I had failed to turn my side of the water system off ( unsure about that as farmer wants to buy the land and could have sabotaged it) Sogedos say its my fault even though its their tap that broke ...awful experience at Sogedo...at first said my fault then after broke down in tears and explained my husband had died and I was not aware of the importance of that...OK stupid grieving me ..the beurocrat said I could wait for the bill and then put in a degravement appeal ...I'm not going to be able to afford the bill at all ...if they decide to pursue me for the whole amount 6 months of water gushing out 4k euros any idea if I can ask to pay monthly ? Seems wildly unfair as it was their equipment that broke 
Thoughts advice 🙏


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## 1790260

I am so sorry for you. The loss of your husband and then this. These 'he said, she said' arguments are ones nobody wants, no matter where or in what language.

Generally speaking, if it's their equipment (tap) that broke then the problem is theirs. There is a dividing line, whether it be the meter or your tap; anything one side is yours, the other side is theirs. I don't know, and without knowing the exact set-up ot taps and meter, I wouldn't really want to comment specifically.

Have you anyone on the ground in France that can help you out as a liaison? My gut feel is that you would probably do well to get the advice of a lawyer (French obviously) as without knowing the specifics I doubt anyone here can give concrete advice.

Should you be liable (and we all obviously hope that's not the case) then I feel sure that Sogedo would, under the circumstances, enter into some kind of payment plan agreement - but you're not there yet. I'd get some kind of intermediary (do you know anyone at the mairie for instance?) that can act on your behalf to have a conversation with Sogedo, it's clearly and understandably too upsetting for you to deal with at this point.


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## Befuddled

If I was in your position, being a UK resident I would wait and see if they try to hit you with some huge bill. I doubt if they will send bailiffs across the Channel to pursue the issue. Plenty of people have left loads of unpaid bills and speeding tickets behind and were not pursued in UK. Post Brexit the methods to chase people in the UK are limited. The only downside to this idea is that it will likely impede your plan to sell the land at a time you could well do with the money.


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## Clic Clac

Befuddled said:


> If I was in your position, being a UK resident I would wait and see if they try to hit you with some huge bill. I doubt if they will send bailiffs across the Channel to pursue the issue.


I would want to pre-empt any problems. I'm guessing OP has enough stress and problems to sort out at the moment.

Agaze, if you can contact the Mairie, and explain the situation.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that you can't be charged more than a year's 'normal' usage, based on recent previous years.
It may well prove to be a fault on the other side of your meter, and not down to you.





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www.service-public.fr


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## Clic Clac

Clic Clac said:


> I'm sure I've read somewhere that you can't be charged more than a year's 'normal' usage, based on recent previous years.


*It appears to be 'double' a normal year's bill, but that's probably not that much for a field.

Does anyone know why the edit button has vanished?


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## Bevdeforges

Clic Clac said:


> Does anyone know why the edit button has vanished?


Because you waited too long. The edit button is only available for a limited period of time after you post a message.


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## Clic Clac

Bevdeforges said:


> Because you waited too long. The edit button is only available for a limited period of time after you post a message.


For the past week or so mine isn't available at all. 

I'll post this, then try and edit out the 'No' in the next 10 seconds.........⏱


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## LoriEleanor

Something similar happened to me a few years back. Only in my case, the leak was noticed only a day or so after it started. Based on the facture up to that point (which I hadn't gotten yet), I think the leak began a while back, but was a slow leak that grew over time. 

Long and short of it, I called the emergency number for the water company - in my case SDEI. They sent out their emergency crew who told me the leak was on my side and i would be responsible for it. 

I was not convinced as they guy could not point out exactly where the leak was. I called back SDEI and explained that to them. Their guy could not point to the leak location. They advised me to have a licensed plumber come out and inspect the meter (the leak was at the meter). This was an old meter. I did as suggested and called out a licensed plumber. He fully inspected the meter and took pictures of a sort of a hole/crack of the metal on the meter on THEIR side, not mine. He wrote a detailed report and zoomed in photos of the problem. 

That is all it took. It did take weeks to get all this done. In the end, I got a letter from SDEI that they had accepted the report / photos from the plumber and that I would get a degredation of the bill. They made a point to tell me that I would only get ONE degredation for the life of my account with them. They replaced the meter.

Not exactly like your situation, but the procedure with your water company might be similar. Unless you have someone at the location of the house in question - that you trust - I'm not sure how you can resolve this without being there.


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## rynd2it

We had a huge leak on our side of the meter caused by the failure of a fitting where we branched off the main line for our pool house. The leak went un-noticed for almost a year and only came to light when the annual meter reading was taken. We had a professional find the leak as there was no visible sign of excess water, and they submitted their finding to the water company SAUR. We had a plumber fic the leak and submit a report to SAUR explaining on what date they had fixed it and gave a meter reading the same day. SAUR credited us back with ALL the excess usage (about 100,000 gallons worth) within a few days of the report.
The water companies are apparently required to compensate even if the leak is not on their side of the meter.


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## rynd2it

p.s. - the edit button is not available even less than 10 seconds after posting the above


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