Should I Sign a Deed of Easement?

Jackie235

Hi! We purchased a new build house in Nov 06.

We have been approached by a solicitor for the water board (northumbrian water) asking us to sign a deed of easement so they can have access to the public sewer in the centre of the garden.
However this means they will need access to the WHOLE garden right up to our patio doors!
If they need to dig it up they want 3 meters either side for pilling up the muck and thats pretty much our whole garden!
I realise that if there is a problem with the drain I dont want to be footing the bill for it but the deed says that the water board can appear at any time without warning, remove our fence, dig up the garden, patio, move the shed etc, do what they need to do and then not have to put it back the way it was?

From reading through the solicitor speak (why do they talk in riddles?) it seems that it is the main public sewer that comes down the road and passes through ours and our neighbours gardens. Just reading it further, it more or less says that once the deed is signed we have to ask permission to do anything that may cause damage to the sewer, so my plans for a conservatory are out of the window... even though the sewer is about 4 meters away from the patio doors they want that land to pile the excess soil.
Just all seems to be in the water boards favor however it does say they will pay the solicitors costs.
If we had been told about this in the 1st place when we bought the house we would have looked elsewhere so we could have what we want, now we're in the situation that our garden is not much use other than as grass as the water board will have right of way on it if we sign, we actually chose the house as it had the best sized garden for our money we had to spend and the sewer was never mentioned to us by the plc builder or on the searches performed by our solicitor.

Saying that we did come back from holiday in the 1st year of living here to find the fence down, garden dug up and a jcb parked in the middle of it as the builders had ballsed up building the sewer!,should have realised then lol!
Sorry to keep asking but my nice house with nice garden is now just a house with a garden that northumbian water will have rights over. not what we bought in the 1st place!
All I wanted was to put a conservatory on my house in my garden! The day I picked up the keys the Site Manager even said to me "its a lovely spot for a conservatory on the back of here mind" Any advice for this please, I don't think this was pointed out by our origional solicitor when they did the searches and it has taken over 2 years from completion of the development for them to write to us asking to adopt the sewer in mine and the neighbours garden!

Sorry its a bit long winded!!
Thanks in advance for any help

Mandark

It needed a few spaces between the paragraphs Jackie!!!

I've got a sewer running under the house in a similar way. I've got to allow access to a manhole. My neighbours have an even bigger one. My garden's very small so there's no development opportunities being lost and even a shed is too much for it.

I understand Severn Trent haven't visited since our houses since they were built in 1994, so the need for access is quite rare. But with all the flooding problems we seem to have these days this might change.

I think you might as well sign. The bottom line is that you bought the wrong house.

Watch out for rats too!

Premier_2

Don't sign anything without taking independant legal advice!

What happens if you don't sign?

Are you sure there are no service easements or other rights of access over your land for access to services already?

If there aren't any, start negotiating with the water company over how much they are prepared to offer you for you to grant them the access they require. It's going to cost them a small fortune to re-divert the existing sewer around your garden (and those of your neighbours presuming they are in the same situation), but whether that is enough money to put up with them digging up your roses now and again, only you can decide.

Jackie235

No there aren't any easements in place and i've just realised the plc builder that did the development in the 1st place have built our neighbours garage (which is at the bottom of our garden) only 2 meters away from the sewer man hole! I think they have pretty much ball's it up!

I have been advised by a friend that I should tell them to re-route it as it my land!!! this will cost them a fortune and then they should compensate me, im not looking for money I just want what I bought,

incidently this isn't the wrong house, no one told me a public sewer was going through the middle of my garden. we bought a nice house with a nice garden but now can't do much with it.

Sorry for the lack of commas im at work and writing in a hurry!!!

Jackie235

Sorry missed this bit,
not sure what happens if i dont sign, I assume they will try to enforce the deed by saying i'm responsible if it needs anything done I'll have to pay for it.

It affects mine and 3 others in the row of 4 and our neighbours out the back(one with the garage) so its at least 5 of us that the sewer is going through our gardens.

rogerdodger007

I wonder why they are asking for it now.

Have they offered you money for granting them the right to access your land?

I'd say don't sign it in it's current state at all - it sounds, from your post, that you are granting them the right to access their pipe and not be responsible for putting right the disruption they cause and in return, you get ... errr, nothing.

Could you ask your original solicitor why this wasn't picked up?

If you do want to sign it, you'd need to change the T&C more to your favour i.e. put the garden back to its original state after access within a certain timeframe, and some recompense for the access.

rogerdodger007

>>not sure what happens if i dont sign, I assume they will try to enforce the deed by saying i'm responsible if it needs anything done I'll have to pay for it.
I don't think they can do that - by not signing, you are just saying that they haven't an automatic right of access to the garden - instead, they have to ask you if they want to access the garden.

hostman

You need professional legal advice. Do not sign it until you've sought this.

It sounds like the terms they want you to sign are !!!!!!!! and only benefit them. In the long term an agreement will probably benefit you, as if the sewer does burst or need maintenance you would want them to fix it. But not this current agreement which gives you nothing and them everything.

Jackie235

Have taken the letters and the deed to the solicitor I used for the purchase of the house and asked them to see if it was picked up in the searches so will update as i find out more, if anyone has any more info for me a will be modt grateful, Thanks so far
Jackie

Jackie235

I have just found this paragraph in my land registy document:

(12.04.2000) The land is subject to the following rights reserved by a
Transfer thereof and other land dated 31 March 2000 made between (1)
George Rea Campbell and Mary Anne Campbell and (2) Hatch Warren 1992
Limited:-
"The Property is sold subject to:-
...All rights of way drainage water courses and other rights in the nature
of easements or quasi-covenants now or usually enjoyed by adjoining owners
or occupiers over all or any part of the Property"

NOTE: 'The Property' referred to includes the land in this title.


Does this mean I have to sign?
I know the solicitor will probably tell me but just wondered if yuo guys had any idea?

silvercar

That is just the rights of your neighbours water to go through your sewers etc.