Buying a house with public sewer in Garden

Tomsdad67

Hi

We are in the process of buying a property and have received a letter fromt he Solicitor saying that having completed the drainage search it is indicated that a public sewer runs through the back garden.

The solicitor has provided a copy of the map from Southern water showing the sewar but is is difficult to tell from this if the sewar is within 3 meters of an existing extension that was build in 1982 (pre the changes in bulding regs)

Upon purchase of the property we plan to demolish the existing rear extension that currently only covers about a third of the rear of the porperty and replace it with a new extension right across the back of the property to create an open plan kitchen dining area.

Having looked at Southern water's website it appears that a key factor on if they will or will not agree a buildover certificate is the diameter of the sewer pipe. The diameter influences if it is a minor or major sewer and Southern water state that in most cases they decline build over applications for sewers with a diameter of in excess of 225mm.

On the copy of the sewer map that the solicitor has provided, the sewer that runs along the back of our potential purchase and continues along the back of the rest of the houses in the street has the number 150 printed next to it at regular intervals. Else where on the map sewers are indicated but next them are the digits 225 at regular intervals.

I have a few questions on the above upon which peoples views would be appreciated:

1, If their is an existing extension which we plan to demolish and replace with a new one (which does not extend further from the back of the house) how do people think building control/Southern water will view this when considering if we can build our new extension in the facinity of the sewer? Are they likely to consider that as the existing extension has not damaged the sewer it will be o.k to build again.

2, Do the digits 225 and 150 shown next to the sewers on the map we have received indicate the diameter of the sewer pipe?

Thanks in advance for people's opinions.

DVardysShadow

1. Don't know. You need to clear it with your vendors and then get a definitive answer from SW in writing before you commit.

2 Very likely. In mm.

Tomsdad67

Does anyone else have any knowledge or experience of this that they can help me out with by sharing

Thanks

WhiteHorse

Building over something like a sewer is always a bad idea. What happens when access is needed to repair/upgrade it?

stef73

How old is your house ? if its before 1937 . We built over our section 1937 sewer as has everyone in our terrace . If it blocks the water authority have to come out and clear it as its there responibility to maintain it .

dander

Probably not a lot of help, but these are my thoughts. Firstly, I was under the impresion that what was hard to get approval for these days was actually building on top of the sewer, rather than just within the 3 metres. It's just that they reserve the right to get picky about foundations and things within that distance. I also believe how deep the sewer is makes a difference as well - I got the impression that the shallower the better, which is the other way round from what I expected.

I built a very small extension last year that was just about 3 m from a sewer - the water company were very easy to deal with and pretty much just wanted reassurance that they didn't have to do anything. I got the impression that it would be hassle all round if I went within the 3 m. There would certainly have been costs that were very hard to pin down - paying them to come round and survey it, paying them to sign things off etc. I think, while if you are rebuilding on the same foundations of the previous extension, they aren't going to prevent you doing that, it won't neccessarily help your case when making the extension bigger, because firstly rules for this have changed in the past few years and they are stricter now than they used to be and secondly I think I lot of the issue is to do with the weight of the structure and the increased load on the ground around the sewer.

DVardysShadow

Tomsdad67 wrote: »

Does anyone else have any knowledge or experience of this that they can help me out with by sharing

Thanks

It is all speculation. You can get a definitive answer from SW water if you approach them with your vendor's permission.