Skip to main content

A closeup of a blue bin containing dozens of shiny bronze pipes of various shapes and lengths.

"Luckily no-one was living there."
A silhouetted man looks down at a severed metallic pipe under a house with light filtering in from the entrance behind him.

"Copper pipe theft is one of the major issues we've been dealing with recently,"
Ms Williams said.
A blonde woman with a pink shirt and grey blazer looks off camera at a table with native flower bouquets in the background.

"It was vacant at the time, so I believe they attended firstly to turn the water off at the premises and then they returned the next day."

"People assume that they have cover for all sorts of scenarios such as this, but in a lot of cases they don't,"
Ms Williams said.
A closeup of hands securing a round red pipe cutter onto a copper pipe.

"A lot of people think they don't need the landlord insurance until they've got a tenant moving in, which is not correct."

"We've got good access, but having good access to replace the pipes has also given good access for the thieves to be able to take the copper."
A man in a blue t-shirt and glasses sits on a ledge beneath a home with plumbers working in the background.

"But for people, having to have their places re-plumbed can be anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000."
A man lays in the narrow crawl space beneath a home, hammering a pipe into place as his younger apprentice holds it in place.

"It's not quite like gold, but it has value because of how easily it's used and how easily it's reused,"
he said.

A blue crane lifts a large white container onto a pile of scrap metal.

"The police have a very hard task at convicting people because of the lack of evidence,"
he said.

Loading...
Posted , updated