Drain survey?

OneYorkshireLass

I'm a complete novice at house buying so feel free to state the bleedin' obvious ...

I'm looking at buying a house, a cheap terraced property, needs modernising a bit. Will be going to look round at the weekend.

I've noticed that out of all the house on the road it's the only one with the bathroom at the front. Which begs the question - where do the drains go? And has it been fitted by a cowboy? The waste pipe doesn't look to have been fitted very well.

How do you get a drains survey? Are they included in a structural survey? Do you need to ask the survey to look out for something like this?

Thanks
x


please see added information at post #5

G_M

If by 'drains survey' you mean shoving a camera down to inspect for routing, blockages, leaks - no it won't be included in the survey.

You could certainly ask the surveyor to take a look, but it will be a visual inspection.

It seems highly unlikely, however cowboyish the installer, that the bathroom does not drain into the mains somewhere. Indeed, the mains may be at the front with all the other hoses draining under, or round, the properties.

I would just run a load of taps and
a) see if the water flows away OK and
b) see if you can hear where it goes

Then ask the surveyor to look too when he goes in.

If you're going to modernise anyway, why worry. When you get your plumber in to quote for the new bathroom, he'll soon tell you!

edit: you could also scout around outside, both fron and back, to find the manhole cover for the drains. That will give clue as to where it ends up!

Then lift it (take a strong screwdriver to lever it up) and check for free-flowing liquid.

ps - don't forget your binoculars to check the roof....

Owain_Moneysaver

Your solicitor will ask if any alterations have been made to the property and carry out searches to see if any applications for Building Control have been made to the council. But you can ask the seller if they updated the bathroom.

If you want drains surveyed then you need a drain survey and rodding company; even a structural survey might not even lift a manhole cover.

When you're viewing flush the loo and see if the water goes away quickly and if the basin or bath makes gurgling noises at the same time.

OneYorkshireLass

Thanks for the advice.

If each house on the street has the bathroom at the rear of the property I was thinking the main sewer would run down the alleyway to the rear. So was pondering where the drain at the front of the property I am looking at would go to. Surely they wouldn't have taken it under the house? Just by looking at the set up of the street it suggests the drains run down small alleyways at the rear of the properties. I was worried that some cowboy may have just linked it up to something that wasn't the main sewer.

I've just been reading the 50 House Buying Tips - will be taking binoculars and will remember to turn on the taps

Hadn't thought to look for the man hole - thanks! I've been and scouted round outside already (property's empty) and the roof looks a bit dodgy, but then the whole terrace does.

OneYorkshireLass

as we found out today that it's a repossession and everything in the property has been turned off - so can't turn on the taps or flush loo, switch on lights etc ....

i have since found out that there's no building regs for the bathroom. it was, at some point, moved from the downstairs rear of the property to the first floor at the front to make a larger kitchen.

how difficult is it to get building regs approval, and what would happen if i bought the property and didn't get building regs approval.

would a council officer come out and see the property before I purchased and give advice?

TDPIX

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

as we found out today that it's a repossession and everything in the property has been turned off - so can't turn on the taps or flush loo, switch on lights etc ....

i have since found out that there's no building regs for the bathroom. it was, at some point, moved from the downstairs rear of the property to the first floor at the front to make a larger kitchen.

how difficult is it to get building regs approval, and what would happen if i bought the property and didn't get building regs approval.

would a council officer come out and see the property before I purchased and give advice?

You can get indemnity insurance to protect you in this case.

However contacting the council would invalidate the indemnity insurance - i.e. you won't be able to take out a policy.

Speak to your solicitor about how to proceed? But (for now) do not contact the council.

OneYorkshireLass

TDPIX wrote: »

You can get indemnity insurance to protect you in this case.

However contacting the council would invalidate the indemnity insurance - i.e. you won't be able to take out a policy.

Speak to your solicitor about how to proceed? But (for now) do not contact the council.

Thank you, thank you, thank you
I was going to contact the council on Monday to double check that it hadn't been missed off the building regs register that you can access on their website. I won't do so now.


I don't know if I'll get to the stage of having a solicitor. The house is more of a wreck than I first thought.
Will be taking a builder round it next week, but I think it'll cost a lot to put things right in the house and so wouldn't be worth buying it.