No Find No Fee Leak Detection: Where the Line Is Drawn

The three outcomes of a survey

Every survey ends in one of three places. Only the first is covered by the waiver, and the other two are charged because in both of them the survey answered your question.

Why a leak that is not yours is still charged

Origin decides it, not pipe type. Where access is given, the survey covers communal risers and party walls like any other pipework. If the water proves to come from the flat above, a shared riser or the supply beyond your stop tap, the leak has been found, and the survey is charged. Who is responsible for a leak on the supply explains where that line usually falls.

That answer is often the most useful one the visit can give, because it stops you paying for a repair that was never yours to make. The written report states where the source is and how it was shown, which is what you pass to the person responsible, or to your insurer, where cover depends on the policy and the insurer decides (escape of water claim, step by step). See how a visit is run for the order of the tests.

Why ruling a leak out is charged

Some surveys end with every pipe system tested and nothing escaping. The damp behind a bed case study is one: moisture mapping, thermal imaging, an endoscope and pressure tests on the hot and cold supplies found no pressurised leak, and the moisture was attributed to water entering from outside.

The hours were spent eliminating each system in turn. That work has a result, so it is charged. We say this before the visit rather than after it.

When a leak inside your property is not found

The waiver applies to a leak that is live, meaning water is still escaping, and inside your own property. Two case studies show where that edge sits in practice. On one visit both supplies held pressure twice and tracer gas was negative, so the source was narrowed to a shower area but not proven. On another one leak was found and a slower one was not.

Each of those pages states plainly what was and was not located. The written report does the same for your visit, so the outcome you were given is on paper.

How it works alongside the prices

Hourly work is charged at a rate for the method used, for example £180 an hour for standard detection, and each rate is a fixed hourly rate that cannot rise on the day, and tracer gas work adds one cylinder charge of £80. The package is £580 for one property. No VAT is charged.

No find, no fee waives the detection fee when we attend a live leak inside your own property and cannot locate it. A leak that belongs to a neighbour, a communal pipe or the water company's main is a located leak and is charged, and so is a survey that establishes no leak exists, because ruling a leak out is the answer you paid for.

The hourly rate against package page shows where each route is cheaper. Cancelling a booking before work starts is a separate matter, covered by the 14-day cancellation rule.