What's different about Inala
Mostly rented houses
At the 2021 Census, 54.9% of the suburb's occupied homes were rented, against 33.1% across Queensland. 89.1% were separate houses, and only 20.7% were owned with a mortgage.
A smoke testing suburb
Inala is on Urban Utilities' list of areas being smoke tested in 2026, part of its program to stop stormwater getting into the sewer.
Rain in the sewer
Urban Utilities estimates that about three quarters of the stormwater entering its sewer network comes from private properties. Its data shows 1 in 13 properties has a non-compliant connection.
Brisbane City Council area
Inala sits in Brisbane City Council's area, so Urban Utilities supplies the water and takes the sewage, and Council handles street drainage.
What the smoke testers are hunting for
- Roof downpipes running into the sewer instead of the stormwater system.
- An overflow relief gully less than 75 mm above the ground with no cap on it.
- Inspection opening caps that are cracked or missing.
- Cracked sewer pipes and maintenance hole lids that leak.
How the test works
Crews blow non-toxic smoke into a maintenance hole. In a healthy system it drifts out through the vent pipe on your roof. Smoke coming up from the lawn or out of the gutters means a cracked pipe or a downpipe wrongly joined to the sewer.
Renting in Inala: who does what
Defect notices go to the property owner, and apart from the gully and inspection caps Urban Utilities supplies, the owner pays for the repairs. If you rent and a notice lands in your letterbox, send a photo of it to your property manager straight away.
If sewage overflows inside the house, Urban Utilities' advice is to call your insurer, or as a tenant, your property manager or landlord. It can't come inside to clean or disinfect.
Owners: where your pipe ends
Your drain runs to the sewer connection point, which can be outside the front fence. Past that point, the sewer is Urban Utilities'. If a plumber finds the blockage on its side, pay the invoice, then lodge a claim for reasonable costs yourself; Urban Utilities won't accept one from the plumber on your behalf. Brisbane blocked drains has the detail.
What we would do
Landlords: have the gully and inspection caps checked before the testers arrive, and fix any downpipe on the sewer in the same visit as other drainage work. Tenants: report a gurgling drain, or a gully that spills in rain, in writing and early. In both cases a drain specialist can tell which side of the connection point the fault is on, and that decides who pays.