Should we be concerned about buying this house?

bobwilson

We're buying a house and have discovered there's an underground public electricity line going from the main road through the land of the house, to a service station behind the garden.

shown in this pic:
http://postimage.org/image/53a35l0m7/

Southern Eastern Electricity Board have the right to enter the garden to maintain and repair the electric line, although the previous owner tells us in the past 25 years since the house was built, they've never exercised this right.

The house has restrictive covenants that state we can't build or plant trees within 1.5 metres of the "yellow land" (which contains the electric line)

However, it turns out this covenant has been breached by the previous owner:
The house itself, an outbuilding, some pavements and garden brickwork, were all built within 1.5metres of the yellow land, some, including a corner of the house, are on top of the yellow land, as you can see in the pic.

The house is about 25 years old, and was built a few months after the covenant was written.

Would any of these issues affect the future marketability of the house? Would it affect how easy it is to sell it on?

The covenants are here (The garden and house are split into separate title deeds):
http://www.filedropper.com/covenants

We've drawn the house on the plan here, and the electric line is shown in faint dashed yellow:
http://postimage.org/image/53a35l0m7/
http://www.filedropper.com/scan-120926-0001_2

Thanks so much for the help & advice

thelem

bobwilson wrote: »

Would any of these issues affect the future marketability of the house? Would it affect how easy it is to sell it on?

It's making you think twice about buying the house, so yes.

If it's as you describe, then it sounds like if the power line needs replacing (which they do periodically, but less often than every 25 years) then South Eastern EB would be within their rights to demolish the house at your expense. I'd be asking the vendors to convince me that isn't the case before I went any further.

bobwilson

Our solicitor advises:

"[FONT=&quot]If the house has been built in breach of the Wayleave agreement, you can either take out indemnity insurance or we can contact the electricity board for consent. If we choose the latter, this could prolong the transaction and be more costly of the Electricity board have any requirements for giving consent. Also if the Electricity board refuse or do not respond you will not be able to take out indemnity insurance. Indemnity insurance should be sufficient if the property is in breach as the house is over 25 years old. It is unlikely you would have to demolish the house and more likely that the Electricity board would want the route of the cables to be changed at your expense in the worst case scenario."[/FONT]

Alias_Omega

Even with the insurance, it sounds like you would want a nice discount on the property.

Now that you've found this out about the cable/out-house. I would inform the seller, and i guess they would have to advise any future buyer.

bobwilson

Thanks for the feedback. Does anyone else have any opinions on it? Would it put you off buying a house, or is it a non-issue for you as long as there's indemnity insurance?

breadlinebetty

Besides all the potential problems you;ve aleady pointed out pylons are reported to be a health hazard and people living close to them have higher incidences of cancer.

On top of that they're an ugly eyesore.:(

bobwilson

breadlinebetty wrote: »

Besides all the potential problems you;ve aleady pointed out pylons are reported to be a health hazard and people living close to them have higher incidences of cancer.

On top of that they're an ugly eyesore.:(

Pylons? it's an underground power line

breadlinebetty

bobwilson wrote: »

Pylons? it's an underground power line

Oooops, sorry! My fault - I read it too quickly.

Not sure about underground pwer lines, but don't like the sound of them either to be honest.

It would put me off for sure

bobwilson

breadlinebetty wrote: »

Oooops, sorry! My fault - I read it too quickly.

Not sure about underground pwer lines, but don't like the sound of them either to be honest.

It would put me off for sure

You know those little service station square things you get in new build estates? You usually get one in each estate. The underground line goes to one of those behind the garden, we don't think it's a national grid thing. We don't know what voltages are involved though.

breadlinebetty

bobwilson wrote: »

You know those little service station square things you get in new build estates? You usually get one in each estate. The underground line goes to one of those behind the garden, we don't think it's a national grid thing. We don't know what voltages are involved though.

I've never really noticed them to be honest but I suppose if you can't see it it's not so bad.....

I would worry though about all that electricity being underneath my house/garden and maybe having restrictions on what I can do etc:cool:

I know it's not a pylon but I do know they are known to be a health hazard so it might be an idea googling up to see if there's any health hazards with the underground power cables......

stef73

Is it a sub stations thats in use? Someone i know nearly bought a house with a sub station next door and in the reports he had done said it was built the same time as the small estate but never needed so it was just a empty building.