buying bung

c_denise

Hi there, we recently had the searches done ourselves. OH didn't want to have the environmental search but I thought might as well since we are already spending £££ and boy oh boy did we opened a can of worms. The property is situated on old clay pit and had a brick manufacturing ages ago and there's no records what they fill it up with. That was 3 months ago and we haven't exchange yet.

We are heading for the indemnity option but if we were to sell, it will prob pop up again. I guess the choice is yours. What they do is to provide you with information on the area and what the land has been used for using old maps and risk assessing for you.

Google this homecheck.co.uk and input the postcode for some info about the area. Hope this helps

Richard_Webster

This search will reveal matters such as the proximity of public sewers, whether there is a sewer running through the boundaries of your property, whether the property is connected to the main water supply, whether foul water and surface drainage from property drain to a public sewer and location of the water mains."

If you are buying an ordinary property on an ordinary street in an ordinary town, you know perfectly well that there is a mains water supply and that the property drains into the main sewer. if there is any doubt about that, ask the vendors or the water company.

Yes, and it isn't even as helpful as that because since 1st October 2011 the water companies got lumbered with thousands of private sewers and they have no idea where a lot of them are so the search simply won't show them!

Yorkie1

If I hadn't had the water search, I wouldn't know that there was a main drain less than 2m from my back wall - thus preventing me from extending to the rear, because Yorkshire Water don't do build over agreements.

Richard_Webster

If I hadn't had the water search, I wouldn't know that there was a main drain less than 2m from my back wall - thus preventing me from extending to the rear, because Yorkshire Water don't do build over agreements.

This is a major reason for doing a drainage search - but, as I have said, it is not likely to show former private sewers which now would sterilize development.