Khandallah homeowner Warwick Eves has been slapped with a $9500 plumbing bill after a lateral sewer pipe burst on City Council owned land.

Wellington man Warwick Eves is angry, after being slapped with a $9476 bill to replace a half-a-century-old sewer pipe - even though the damage occurred outside the boundary of his Khandallah home.

Worse still, roots from a council-owned pohutukawa tree - also off his Homebush Rd property - contributed to the costly failure of the pipe which transported waste to the public main.

Have you had to pay for repairs to a sewer pipe? Let us know. Email newstips@stuff.co.nz

ROB KITCHEN/FAIRFAX NZ Khandallah resident Warwick Eves disapproves of Wellington City Council's lateral pipe policy, forcing him to cough up almost $10,000.

"Everyone I talk to about it is dumbfounded. Everyone says, 'this is crazy, it doesn't make any sense. How can you have liability for something you cannot work on' they say," Eves said.

Because part of the road needed to be dug up, about $4000 of the bill was spent on stop-go traffic management for what was a single day of works in October last year.

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CAMERON BURNELL/ FAIRFAX NZ Miramar homeowner, Stella Lawson, copped a $22,000 repair bill after the lateral pipe which sat six metres from her house collapsed in 2015.

"It's ridiculous. Absolutely. It stinks like crazy," Eves said.

"I think the council needs to take responsibility, it's on their property. They installed these pipes in the first place. The damage is being caused by trees that are on their property.

"The tree is probably a good five or six metres outside my property boundary. The actual area that they had to dig up is a good eight to 10 metres away from the edge of my boundary."

FAIRFAX NZ Around $4000 of Warwick Eves' $9476 pipe repair bill was spent on one day's worth of traffic management, enabling the collapsed pipe to be dug up and replaced.

It is understood the council offered to pay for the damage directly caused by the root blockage, but a larger area of the pipe had failed due to other causes.

Eves said the council had offered to pay about 10 per cent of the repair bill, but he maintains the policy is badly flawed.

"How many more ratepayers have to be affected before Wellington City Council steps up to the mark and takes full responsibility for looking after the pipeline infrastructure it has installed on its land?"

The council estimated between 100 to 200 homeowners will have to replace or repair a lateral pipe each year.

Eves' plight was similar to the one faced by Miramar resident Stella Lawson in 2015.

She was landed with a whopping $22,000 bill after the lateral pipe - which collapsed about six metres outside her home's boundary - also failed.

Because Lawson's pipe was not on her property, she was unable to insure it.

In February last year, Wellington City Council's Environment Committee voted unanimously to take responsibility for maintaining private wastewater pipes beyond homeowners' property boundaries.

However, because the "financial implications were uncertain", the proposal was now being considered as part of the next long-term plan deliberations for 2018-2028, a council spokesman said.

"They need to take [responsibility] back in-house. The age of the pipes, the trees are growing," Eves said.

"It's just going to cause problems across the whole Wellington area."

In its lateral policy, WCC recognised tree roots could cause blockages and could make structural damage worse.

In consideration of this, the council "would pay once only" for unblocking a lateral if it was caused by tree roots on a road reserve.

However, it reiterated that, ultimately, maintenance or replacement of a lateral pipe was the homeowner's responsibility.

Porirua City Council has adopted a different approach. "Our policy is that homeowners in Porirua are not liable for repairs to lateral pipes where they join the council main, including under roads," said the council's chief operating officer, Tamsin Evans.

She added homeowners were only responsible for pipes within their property's boundary.

Upper Hutt City Council appeared to have a similar policy to Wellington City Council, however neighbouring council, Hutt City's policy could not be established.