Any surveyors on here ? New house issue

[Smirking_Saint]

Hi guys, wondered if anyone could shine a light on the following.

 

I am currently halfway through the purchase of a new house, the main survey is complete and most of my relevant documentation. Yesterday however I revieved the land searches back. The one that has thrown up an issue is the water search. Apparantly the house is built directly above a public sewer. I wondered if this is going to be an issue ? And what problems it could cause ?

 

The house itself is 1960'sish and there are manhole covers in the garden, not built over.

 

Any helps appreciated

[Sheaf Saint]

AFAIK, as long as the manhole covers are accessible and haven't been built on top of then there is no issue. We had exactly the same report back on the survey of the place we are currently buying and the solicitor wasn't the slightest bit concerned about it - he said it was quite normal.

 

By all means check with your solicitor but there should be no problem.

[Clapham Saint]

We bought our place in March.

 

The sewer runs along the back of the house (just outside). Ours is virtually only house in the street not to have built an extension out over the top of the sewer and we intend to do the same as soon as we can afford to. We will need to move the man hole covers and will need to get agreement from Thames water (which we will have to pay a fee for) but it isn't an issue according to our:

 

Surveyor

Solicitor

Architect

Builder

Thames water

 

You should be fine

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[hutch]

You'll need to move more than just the covers

[Smirking_Saint]

Cheers for the advice guys, SW have come back and told me that the pipe and any damage is their responsibility which gives me a bit more piece of mind. I think Ill get the CCTV survey done for piece of mind aswell. It looks like a 6 inch clay pipe so shouldnt be too many issues with that I wouldnt think.

[Secret Site Agent]

I'm not a surveyor but a Civil Engineer. I can confirm what the others said that it isn't a problem. The yjing to remember is that the utility company has acess rights to the manhole cover, so good advice is to ensure that you never build over it or remove it, or they can smash their way into it. I have experience of working for the Environment Agency and some clever **** built over the chamber, and entering with EA warrented officers and a court order we smased the **** out of his garage slab with a breaker on a mini digger, rebuiolt the camber but left him with a big hole.

So no worries, pal.

[Smirking_Saint]

I'm not a surveyor but a Civil Engineer. I can confirm what the others said that it isn't a problem. The yjing to remember is that the utility company has acess rights to the manhole cover, so good advice is to ensure that you never build over it or remove it, or they can smash their way into it. I have experience of working for the Environment Agency and some clever **** built over the chamber, and entering with EA warrented officers and a court order we smased the **** out of his garage slab with a breaker on a mini digger, rebuiolt the camber but left him with a big hole.

So no worries, pal.

 

I thought as much re: access rights, I work for the electricity board so understand easements etc regarding rights to access pipes etc. Having checked there are no actual easements in place so technically they have no legal right to 'service' the pipe, however Im not an idiot, Im not one for blocking access to the detriment of me or my neighbours TBH. Having done some investigation its a 150mm vit clay pipe, so Im pretty confident it wont cause subsidence etc. Would the water company be responsible for any damage to the house in this case though ? Presumeably Id need indemnity insurance ?

 

As per if they had to replace the pipe Im assuming the consensus would be to divert. Having had to 'repair' HV cables found under houses in the past (even with a legal easement in place) my thoughts were effectively to joint it out, its too much effort to dig up a house, and generally causes more issues then its worth.

[derry]

The original 1960 deeds/conveyances will show the rights of who can access the property for maintenance and repairs.

[ooh it's a corner]

the other consideration is what happens if the sewer fails and what should flow down the sewer ends up flowing into your basement.

 

Happened to someone I know and it was 6 months before they could move back in.

 

I had exactly the same survey result happen to me and lost interest (probably coz I was related to the poor sod who had it happen to them).

 

obviously the odds on it happening are enormous, but **** happens

[Smirking_Saint]

Im presuming that the sewer is around 700mm down and buried ?!

[Secret Site Agent]

I thought as much re: access rights, I work for the electricity board so understand easements etc regarding rights to access pipes etc. Having checked there are no actual easements in place so technically they have no legal right to 'service' the pipe, however Im not an idiot, Im not one for blocking access to the detriment of me or my neighbours TBH. Having done some investigation its a 150mm vit clay pipe, so Im pretty confident it wont cause subsidence etc. Would the water company be responsible for any damage to the house in this case though ? Presumeably Id need indemnity insurance ?

 

As per if they had to replace the pipe Im assuming the consensus would be to divert. Having had to 'repair' HV cables found under houses in the past (even with a legal easement in place) my thoughts were effectively to joint it out, its too much effort to dig up a house, and generally causes more issues then its worth.

 

Yes the Utility company would be responsible for any damaged caused,as they have a duty of care whilst servicing the pipe. So no worries there.