Water Meter Leaking? Who Fixes It and What to Do

Updated July 2026 · Emergency Plumber Chelsea

First, work out where your meter is, because the answer changes who you call. For most Chelsea houses and lower-ground flats with their own supply, the meter sits in an underground boundary box under a small cover in the pavement, the front path or the front garden, near the property line. In some older period houses it is inside, where the supply enters, often near the stopcock under the kitchen sink or in a cellar. In a mansion block or converted house it is often in a shared riser or a communal meter cupboard, labelled with your flat number. Our guide on how to read your water meter shows how to find it and lift the cover safely.

The usual dividing line is the boundary. Thames Water owns the water main in the street and the communication pipe that runs up to your boundary, and it owns the meter. You own the supply pipe that runs from the boundary into your home and up to your inside stop valve, and all the pipework after that. So a leak from the meter body, from the meter's own couplings in the boundary box, or from the pipe on the street side of it is generally Thames Water's. A leak on the pipe leaving the box towards your house, anywhere under your front garden or path, or inside the property is generally yours. Our guide to who is responsible for a water leak covers the rules in more detail, including flats and shared pipes.

A boundary box full of water does not always mean a leak. Chambers in the pavement can fill with rainwater and silt after heavy weather, and in low-lying streets groundwater can seep in. To check, bail the chamber out with a cup and a sponge, dry the meter face, and watch for ten or fifteen minutes. If clean water steadily rises back up, or you can see it weeping from a joint on the meter or the pipe, there is a live leak. If it stays dry, or only slowly damp after rain, the water was probably surface water and there may be nothing to fix.

Next, use the meter itself to find out which side the leak is on. With every tap, appliance and toilet in the home genuinely off, look at the small leak indicator on the meter face, often a tiny star wheel or dial that spins when water flows. If it is still, no water is passing through the meter, and any water in the box is coming from before the meter, which points to the water company's side. If it is turning, water is flowing into your property. Now close your inside stopcock and look again. If the indicator stops, the leak is inside the home, on pipework, a cistern, a boiler or an appliance. If it keeps turning with the stopcock shut, the leak is on the buried supply pipe between the meter and the house.

If the leak is on Thames Water's side, report it to them rather than paying a plumber to repair it. Thames Water's leak line is 0800 714 614, and you can also report a leak online. Give them the address, the exact location of the boundary box, and describe what you saw, including whether water is spraying, weeping or pooling and whether the meter's indicator was still. Take photos of the box and the meter face before you replace the cover. Our guide on how to report a water leak in Chelsea covers what they need to know and what happens next.

If the leak is on your supply pipe, it will not fix itself and on a metered supply you are paying for every litre that escapes. Supply pipe leaks in Chelsea often sit under a front garden, a tiled path, a lightwell or steps, and in older properties the pipe may be lead or early plastic that has failed at a joint. The first step is to find the exact point before anything is dug up. Our water leak detection service uses acoustic and tracing equipment to pinpoint a buried leak, and our guide to underground water leak detection explains how it works. Once it is found, we repair the section or renew the pipe through our leaking water mains repair service.

An internal meter is a slightly different case. Where the meter sits inside the property, next to the stopcock, a drip can come from the meter, from the stopcock, or from the compression joints either side. A weeping stopcock spindle is very common in older Chelsea homes, especially after it has been turned for the first time in years, and our guide to a leaking stopcock covers that fault. If the water is clearly coming from the meter body or its own couplings, contact Thames Water. If it is coming from the stopcock or the pipework and fittings that serve your home, a plumber can repair it, and if you are not sure which it is, we can confirm on site before anyone is billed for work that is not theirs.

In a flat with a shared meter cupboard or riser, do not start opening valves. The cupboard may hold meters and stop valves for several flats, and closing the wrong one can cut off a neighbour or, in some buildings, a supply that must stay on. Tell the porter or managing agent straight away, and let them or Thames Water deal with the shared pipework. If the leak is clearly on the pipe that serves only your flat after your own meter, that part is usually your responsibility, and our guide to shutting off the water in a mansion-block flat explains how to isolate your own supply safely.

Winter brings its own meter leaks. A meter in a shallow boundary box can freeze in a hard frost, and ice can crack the meter body or split a fitting, which then leaks as it thaws. The frost plug, the foam insert that sits over the meter, is there to prevent this, so always put it back after reading the meter. If your meter has frozen or cracked, report it to Thames Water, and if the pipework on your side has split, turn off at the inside stopcock and call a plumber. Our guide on how to stop pipes freezing covers protecting exposed pipes before a cold snap.

A leak after the meter usually shows up on the bill before you see any water. If your bill has jumped, or the meter keeps climbing overnight with nothing running, that is a leak on your side even if nothing looks wet. Our guide to why your water bill is so high walks through the checks. Water companies may offer a leak allowance that adjusts a metered bill once a supply pipe leak has been found and repaired promptly, so keep the meter readings, photos and the repair invoice, and check Thames Water's current terms before you apply. Our guide on Thames Water and leak detection covers how that works.

Treat it as urgent if water is spraying rather than weeping, if it is running into a basement or lightwell, if it is undermining a path or steps, or if you have lost pressure or supply inside. For a leak inside the home or on your supply pipe, close the inside stopcock to limit the flow while you wait; our guide on how to turn off a stopcock shows how. For a leak on the street side of the meter, report it to Thames Water and keep people away from any soft or sinking ground.

Emergency Plumber Chelsea traces and repairs leaks on the customer side of the meter across Chelsea, Knightsbridge, South Kensington, Sloane Square and Fulham, including buried supply pipes, leaking stopcocks and the fittings around internal meters. We confirm which side of the meter the leak is on before any work starts, so you do not pay for a repair that belongs to Thames Water, and we explain the options and the price up front. There is no call-out fee on jobs over 3 hours. Call 020 3002 6667.

Quick tips

• Bail out a wet boundary box and watch it for ten minutes. Clean water rising back is a leak, rainwater and silt usually are not.
• Check the meter's leak indicator with everything off, then again with your inside stopcock closed, to tell which side the leak is on.
• A leak from the meter itself or on the street side of it is normally Thames Water's to repair. Report it on 0800 714 614.
• Photograph the box, the meter face and the reading before you replace the cover. It helps with reporting and any leak allowance.
• Always refit the foam frost plug and the cover after reading the meter so it cannot freeze and crack in winter.

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