Water Leak at Villa - Help Advice desperately needed

We purchased our Villa Nov 2009 & the first quarters water bill was 52 euros then the pool was filled up and the following quarterly water bills were  1252, 1353 , 1005 euros then we switched off the water to the Villa as it was empty and the next quarter was 89 euros.  We have complained about this in May 2010 & the building company got the pool company out who tried something and said it was fixed.  After receiving such high bills, we have complained many many times to the building company who say its a leak with the pool.  The pool company have been out to the Villa & investigated further and now say that there is not a leak with the pool at all that there must be something wrong with the pipes going to the pool or underneath the Villa. Our next door neighbour has had a leak in her basement since we have had our pool filled up!  Also outside her villa where her patio tiles end & area for landscaping is soaking wet. 

Does anybody know what I can call upon to move this along?  All I need is for the leak to stop, its killing us financially.  I was wondering if the house building certificate would cover us for this?  This is a rental property and it will break us if we can't rent it out for the summer months.

PLEASE CAN SOMEBODY HELP??  WE ARE NOW DESPERATE!!

Thanks

Jo

When the water to the house is turned off, does the level of your pool go down?  If it does, then I would suggest that the pool does leak.  If not, then it is possible the water feed to the pool thats the problem.  On the edge of your pool, you should have a "feed" inlet (it looks similar to the ball/cock mechanism to your loo)  Place a rock uner it or tie the mechanism up to stop the feed and monitor the pool for a few days to see if the level drops - again if it stays at the same level, then the pool is ok (suggesting that the leak is somewhere from/between the mains inlet to the pool inlet).  One also assumes the pool company did a pressure check on the skimmers and associated pipework to the pump housing?  At the moment, we are experiencing a similar problem although not to the degree that you are and we think that our leak is probably in/though our pool lights.

Good luck with your problem

You can try the bucket test for the pool, put a bucket or the like on one of the steps of the pool and fill the bucket to the same level as the pool, if the pool is self filling and it sounds like yours is you need to (as has been said) shut the isolator valve off or disable the auto fill in some way, then if there is a leak you will see the pool level going lower than the bucket level.

Pressure testing the drains and skimmer will cost around 120 Euro and is the fist place to look if you have a leak, as Jim has said you can lose water via the lights if you have them, if the transformer for the lights is lower that the pool light level you may find water around the transformer as the water travels down the conduit, it should be higher than the lights these day but its worth checking

With regard to the pressure testing, I was quoted a price from a company advertising in the RoundTownNews online mag at 160 euros with a guarantee of finding the problem.  I used a local builder where we live, and he charged only 25 euros.  He couldn't do the sump as we had 4 ft of water in the pool (no leaks found, hence work on the lights).

Thanks for that advice, were going over there next week & I'll give it a go.  I''ve just emailed the pool company about the lights, now having to threaten legal action.  Great when you have no money left!!

Jo