drainage easement?

dangermouse1977

Yet again we have found a great house only this time as we were looking at builders plans, noticed that from right outside our front door and front garden is listed as 'drainage easement'

As we arnt really clued up on this subject, what are the implications of this?

The sales office state that it's for rain water only and its no big deal.. but of course they would say that, they are trying to get the sale at the end of the day!

Someone has said to me that most New builds have this now so it's hard to get away from.

Views pls, good and bad.. would you buy if it was the only downside to the property?

ethank

If you ever saw the TR1 form you will have to sign and send back to the Land Registry, you will be signing so many covenants that this will seem really minor.

People on our site are not allowed satellite dishes on the front of the property, caravans, to park boats or vans with logos outside their property.....

stator

Can you see from the diagram if it really is rainwater only or whether it connects to the sewars?

Worst case scenario they dig up your garden to fix the drainage. They should still put it back to how it was. If you are a serious gardener who spends ages on their plants then it might concern you. Otherwise not really an issue.

dangermouse1977

I only have the photo that I took on my phone of the actual plot.. I can check if it runs to the sewers when we go meet the site manager..and see them again in full.

I read up a bit online and it says we have to pay taxes for It (??) And buildings insurance would be bumped up. Also it would obviously need to stay on deeds so May impact future sales.

There seems to always be a problem we come across. Last house there was a pylon 25m away that they failed to inform us of..

I think my partner is just a bit miffed that we are eventually buying and still won't be able to even put picket fencing Up around our front garden. From what I've read, we wouldn't be able to anyway on a new build as ethank was saying. Thanks for responses guys
Just don't know..

dimbo61

We have a large pipe running under our driveway and across our front garden.
Not a problem even if it burst as our house is 12/18 inches above the level of the garden would just flood the road/driveway.
Now I cannot plant big trees or plants with long roots and like most new estates no front fence, parking caravans, works vans etc

dangermouse1977

Thanks for the info. If it were just my decision I would go for it. There are very few houses that fit in with what we want. Ha've you ever had a problem with yours?

RockOnZombies

Are you buying on a private estate. If so then yes you'll be paying the usual amount of c/tax for the house, whatever the band is and on top of that a maintenance fee for the drainage network which by the sounds of it is the attenuation tank for the development and as your finding out does constrain what you can do above it.

dangermouse1977

Yes, its a newbuild developement

is the extra maintenence fee a huge amount of money?

Thank you

dangermouse1977

Still don't know what to do ! We have to decide by Sunday!

pooch

An easement is essentially a right to cross or otherwise use someone else's land for a specified purpose, in this case drainage.

That's not unusual at all. We actually have 'service easement' over our land, so that includes all services such as gas, electricity, water, sewerge, telephony, cable TV, etc

Drainage could be both surface water and foul water, but it shouldn't really affect you at all. Actually, despite what the pretty sales lady told you, I'd be surprised it is really isn't both.

You say you have to decide by Sunday? You mean tell the sales agent? If you want it, tell them before they take it off reserve and sell it to someone else.

Assuming you are not in Scotland where things are a bit different, you are not really agreeing to anything much until you exchange contracts, which your solicitor will want to carefully check for you before he will even ask you to sign.

Discuss any matters of concern with your solicitor - it's what you will be paying them for. You should also ensure you get plans of the drains in question just to be sure of the situation (they should be included as a matter of course). As you said, don't listen to some sales agent over this whose job is to sell you the property.

dangermouse1977

Thanks for the advice.
I called her today. We have a meeting with the site manager next week. It just so happens that we can't officially reserve the plot until next week until the first quarter is up. We also cannot apply fprbthe mortgage until May as because the house will be ready in Nov, if we did it now , it would mean the help to buy time limit would expire. This now means Kier are extending the usual exchange limit of 28 days is out the window.

I think we will go ahead with the sale but the only thing bothering me is that we have to use their solicitor apparently and thought this might work in their favour but I've been told they have to inform me of the complications if the drainage easement by law.

Hopefully it will all become a bit clearer once we have also spoken to site. Manager