Water and drainage searches?

rosyw

Can anyone tell me if these are absolutely vital, my solicitor is saying they are "in case of problems in the future should I want to sell" but at the moment all I can say is they are holding up my purchase! The drainage one is OK, but they are saying they can't confirm I have the right to get water from a certain point, but this seems to be covered in a "deed of grant" going back to the 1940's!

tizerbelle

AFAIK it's just one search "Drainage and Water" (the CONDW29) not 2 seperate searches. It will let you know amongst other things whether you have public sewers or water mains running inside your boundary (which could cause problems if you want to build an extension/conservatory). Alternatively the water board may not have adopted the sewer/main which means that you and other householders would be liable if there were any problems.

Seeing as your solicitor can't guarantee you have a right to water on your property would you be happy to move in, having not investigated it fully and then find out sometime later that you don't have a water supply? Surely a slight delay and an outlay of about £50? on what is a major purchase to ensure all is okay is better (even if the risk is minimal) than it all going pete tong later?

rosyw

The searh has shown no water mains or sewers running inside the boundaries, the problem seems to be where the water supply is actually coming from. There is a deed of grant which appears to give the rights to obtain water from a pipe running along the outside of the boundary, and I believe this is where the water supply was taken from by the water board when it was put in! hopefully it will be sorted out in the next few days.
This one is driving me nuts as the whole chain wants to exchange next Wednesday, here's hoping.

anselld

You can pressurise your solicitor to hurry up, but it would not be wise to ignore their advice. You are paying them to protect your interests after all.