A FAMILY face being homeless for Christmas after their property was destroyed and the council charged them £60,000.
The Phillips family’s nightmare at Christmas began when the ground floor of their home in Neath , Port Talbot, flooded.
But the story darkened when Neath Port Talbot Council informed the couple that they were deemed to be the owners of a culvert which caused the flood.
The local authority said they were entitled to recover their costs from the Phillips and the family next-door on Caenant Terrace. The family are now facing a £60,00 bill.
In September, Chloe Phillips shared clips with WalesOnline showing water pumping from a culvert beneath a lane between her house and the next door property.
The council has told the Phillips family and their next door neighbour that they are responsible for the culvert and associated manhole cover.
Chloe, speaking to Wales Online, recalled the incident which flooded her home on December 7.
She said: “It just all surged through the house, it came from nowhere. It came from the walls and through the ground.
“It happened in the space of five minutes, it was all in and it kept coming in and wouldn’t stop.”
Chloe said anything the local authority had done to help deal with the flood resulted in a bill.
She said: “Anything they’ve done to help us, they are charging us for.”
Chloe’s husband Kieran claimed the couple were charged thousands of pounds for “material and traffic management.”
Chloe told how the ordeal had upset their children She said: “My six-year-old is terrified, we can’t tell him that we’ve been flooded out.
“We told him that the work is too noisy fixing the hole because if he’d seen what this is like he’d spiral. My daughter has become really clingy and she’s not sure what’s going on.”
A Neath Port Talbot Council spokesperson said: “Responsibility for piped watercourses within an associated piece of land transfers with sale of the property under what is called ‘Riparian Ownership’ from owner to owner.
“This is the situation regarding these two properties in Caenant Terrace. There has been a problem with a pipe carrying a watercourse across their land and a blockage has occurred, which the owners have legal responsibility to address.
“The property owners in this case have had many opportunities to address the problem but have not done so.
“Despite this being a private, civil matter, the council has stepped in using its powers under the Land Drainage Act to ensure the problem is fixed because of the very serious impact the blockage has been causing for residents in this locality.
“The council has served a legal notice on the landowners to take action and in the absence of response and in the interests of local residents, it arranged for a contractor to undertake works to repair the land drainage pipe.
“This has been undertaken without prejudice, as, by law, the drainage at this location is owned by the residents of the said properties and is not a council asset nor a council responsibility. The works are now virtually completed.
“The council has provided a lot of advice and support which the landowners chose not to follow and it seems they are now seeking to deflect responsibility away from themselves.
“At present, the council has not charged the residents anything but it is entitled to recover costs. The appropriate level of costs will be determined after all works are completed and charges received.
“We can understand the owners may not have known the drainage was under the property at the point when they bought the property.
“However, when initial deterioration of the drainage pipe and leakage washed away the land above, exposing it to view by the owners, its existence was clearly evident.
“Considerable time and resources have been used to deal with this issue which was the responsibility of the landowners not the council. The council had no alternative but to step in and address the situation.”
