Sewer not adopted by council??

carrie78

Hi,
We are in the process of buying our first house. I have a couple of questions for you knowledgeable people.

We have heard back from our solicitor that the road has been adopted by the council/highways people but not the sewers. The housing estate is 14yrs old. Does anyone know why this would be?

Also ownership of the access to the garage block that goes next to the house is shared between the people that own the garages - we don't know who else owns the garages and the solicitor said they would charge more to check this. Is this ok - not knowing etc and is it right that the solicitors would charge more for this.

Thanks
Carrie

star1_2

The issue you describe, occasionally comes about when the origional developer did'nt approach the respective utilities and council when the homes were built. Hence (as you describe) the adoption of the road by the council is retrospective, and the drains hav'nt.

Increasingly, councils and utilities are relecuant to take on the ownership and cost of upkeep. Thats why loads of new in-fill developments have service charges or written into the deeds who's responsible for maintence of these respective areas.

In your particular situation it's more likly the water company (or in particular the utiltiy responsible for sewage) will need to be approached, and then see if they are happy to add "length of private" sewer to their network. Personally I think this is unlikly - as pritate utilties are unlikly to take on a potential financial burdon, they don't currently have. It's probably better that the solicitor (and youself) findout what the current condition is, and assess who of the neighbours is jointly responsible - that way, if anything does happen - you know who the bill is going to be shared between on your new home.

Lil_Dee_2

Carrie, before you start worrying unduly about the sewers, please contact the local council for that area. I recently (Nov last year) sold my house, it was on a 9/10 year old development. It turned out that although there was no official adoption of the sewers, the council were very aware of the situation and it had come about due to problems with the builder not leaving the estate as they had said in the plans - they used tarmac on the private drives, and block-paved the roads.

The council are unhappy about the block paving - it costs them far more to replace than a normal tarmac topping would, so they had never officially adopted anything. However, they were happy to put my sellers (and their solicitors) minds at rest in respect to the "what would happen if ?" scenarios. Basically, what they stated was that should the block paving need to be excavated, then you might end up with a slab of tarmac in the middle of the road, where the block paving used to be should a repair be necessary. The whole thing was due to resolved in the very near future, with the residents being advised that adoption could take place if they agreed to the tarmac option if they ever had to dig it up !!

Check out with the council as to why they didn't adopt - it could be something really silly like mine was. Good luck with it, and don't let it worry you until you have evidence that it should !

adr0ck

"We have heard back from our solicitor that the road has been adopted by the council/highways people but not the sewers. The housing estate is 14yrs old. Does anyone know why this would be?"

It happens quite often if say further down the line the sewer runs underneath a house then the sewers wont be taken on board.....this isn't anything to worry about...unless your the house where it runs underneath

Hallam_Macca

The main sewer that flows through the estate is owned by the regional water company and any problems with that sewer is their responsibility for it's upkeep and maintenance. You shouldn't be charged if anything happens to this. Any pipes or drains leading to the main sewer are the responsibilty of the homeowner and any repairs for that you will have to pay for.

Also if a sewer runs through your property but it doesn't serve your property then you aren't responsible for the payment of the repairs.

flang

when a developer build a housing/roads in order for them to be maintainted they go through a process of adoption.
This process can take years however it varies on each aspect eg: The street lights may be adopted before the storm water drains are etc etc.
please note that local councils only maintain the highway so any sewers/piplines/electricity cables are owned by the revelent company and go through a seperate adoption process.
The adoption process is usually called a section 38 or section 142 (from what i can remember)
Hope this helps

mcbutler1962

Sewers NEARLY ALWAYS belong to the local water authority.

A pipe lying beneath your property (not the main sewer) is your financial responsibility to maintain/repair/unblock.
Some areas have little odd rules, Plymouth for example; If the pipe is blocked under your house you pay for unblocking UNLESS 2 or more properties are affected.

Authorities never volunteer this info so go to a local clearing company and they will tell you (I ask the one the council/water authority uses as they get the job regardless of who pays).

Marcus

carrie78

Thanks, will try to speak to the council on monday to find out why it hasn't been adopted.

Thanks
Carrie