house built on top of water pipes without consent

tessywessy

i have just found out that water pipes are going right across our living room and garden, can they be moved to another pipe of course i am thinking they could in fact ask the owner that the whole building be torn do because it looks like the building was built without the consent of utilities, what i would like to know as a buyer what would you do in my situation.

Thanks

Cardew

If the builders of your house had undergone the correct planning permission procedure, this would have been covered with the utility companies. A provision of the planning permission would be that the water pipes would have been re-routed at the builder's expense.

The Local Authority Building Control officer would/should have checked that work had been done.

However, particularly with old water pipes, the maps and plans the water company use are far from complete and they might have signed off the plans unaware that the pipes existed.

The local authority will have the planning permission documentation so you can check the situation.

If the water company had signed off the plans, the Council might rule the water company are liable to correct the situation.

tessywessy

Thankfully not our's yet so looked at the sheet and it say's that the local authority have no records relating to the inspections by the building control officer, The property was built in 1984! I understand that in the 90's drainage was unheard of and now the owner will have to sort it out before we even think about anything else really hard to think what can be done now

tessywessy

the owners bought the property in the 90's and didn't know of the problem

Cardew

Are we talking about water pipes(i.e. mains water supply) or sewers?

tessywessy

Hi Cardew, Its the mains water supply,

Cardew

Well the owners need to contact the water company, copied to the Local Authority, and ask them what the position is in this situation.

In fact I suggest their solicitor write on their behalf, as you need clarification in writing.

tessywessy

Thank's my solicitor is on the case right now

deanos

Is it the actual main or just a service to a property ?

If its just a service its nothing to do with the water company as they do not lay service pipes

tessywessy

Its a main pipe, and it runs right through the property, doing a short cut under the living room. looking at the drawings here. so i am wondering if they will do it and all fairness they could say no and that the building should come down ..could they do that? if it was built on a mains water pipe.

tessywessy

When i say do it i mean can the redirect the pipe