5 manholes in a brand new house (garden & drive way)...

BartyBoy

Hi all

As the title says, I have just discovered yesterday the house that I reserved over a month ago has 5 manholes in the back garden and the drive way. I must say I was shocked and very annoyed to discover now there are so many manholes in my plot of land. Anyway I haven't yet made up my mind about what to do next, therefore I just wonder if any of you could help me with some advice please.

The whole story started 2 months ago, after visiting 10 different development sites in the region, I managed to find a property that I liked and I could afford. Potentially, I saw this property could be expanded with a conservatory, an extension and a front porch in the future. At one point I believed this was a perfect house for me.

This property is managed by Taylor Wimpey (I know!). I spoke to the sales guy at this development site back in the end of March. I expressed my interest of buying this property. The sales guy asked me to put down £500 for a deposit to reserve the plot, then he went through the reservation agreement and checklist with me.

Cut the long story short, when he was going through his checklist, he showed me some drawing plans. And on one of these plans, he discovered there was a manhole right in the middle of the back garden. He said to me it could be relocated to somewhere near to the garage. I agreed that was the best solution, so I let him sort out the manhole issue for me, I put down a deposit and signed the reservation agreement.

Three weeks later, this sales guy contacted me again. This time he told I must pop in to see my plot. He said the garage was half built and the property had a concrete floor already. So I popped it to see the plot few days after the phone call. Well, there was nothing for me to see apart from a concrete foundation of the garage. I had no idea why the sales guy rushed me to see the plot. Then, the next thing he said to me was to meet the site manager in person. Seeing the plot was 'empty' then, I said I would pop in again in a week time.

Yesterday, I went back to this development site to meet the site manager and his assistant. I was guided to see the plot again. While I thought the plot would still be 'empty', I saw a concrete foundation was laid for the house with 2 rows of bricks around it. I was amazed to see things have started to change rapidly. The assistant then showed me the back garden of this plot, this is where my horror began. I saw two little manholes sat right next to the end of the concrete foundation, then two big manholes further down in the back garden – one was in the centre of the garden and the other one was further down to the bottom of the garden. I saw another big manhole on the drive way, it sat half way to the total length of the concrete foundation. I was totally speechless. I couldn't help myself but asked the site assistant if it was too late to relocate the centre manhole, he said yes.

I simply cannot believe what I saw here. What I cannot understand is, how on earth can someone decide to put a big manhole in the middle of a garden. Does this person really think it looks fine to have a manhole appeared in the middle of a lawn? I appreciate these manholes are essential to my property, but would it not be better and less obvious to locate all these manholes on or close to the sides instead?

And also, why am I getting 5 manholes in my plot of land? Is it normal or usual to have this many of manholes in a single plot of land?

I am just so angry with Taylor Wimpey. I haven't yet signed or exchanged any contracts, so I suppose I can just pull out now and look for another property somewhere else. But if pulling out was not an option, how can I resolve this multi manholes issue?

Sorry for the big long text...

Any suggestion and advice will be very much appreciated.

bylromarha

New houses have notorious amounts of manholes IME. We had 6 on our last new build house, 4 on the new build before that.

The middle of the garden is a crazy place, I agree. Do you have anything on your reservation form detailing the discussion about moving it? I think that is your only chance of maybe getting your reservation fee back if you decde to pull out. As that is all you can do now, pull out and probably lose the fee or go through with the purchase.

If its any consolation, we had a manhole very close to our back door on our new build. We put a conservatory on the back and had an L shape conservatory to go round the manhole instead of a rectangular one. Loads of comments on the great design feature and shape of the conservatory!

SeduLOUs

I have one of the smallest back gardens in the world but somehow have 4 manhole covers scattered randomly throughout the tiny lawn (none near the edges!).

I'm renting, and have considered putting in an offer on the house eventually, but thinking about what I could possibly do with the garden torments me and is probably enough to put me off.

Marktheshark

Any sudden down pour in summer, any blocked drain or bog and your garden is getting the lot all over it.

BartyBoy

bylromarha wrote: »

Do you have anything on your reservation form detailing the discussion about moving it?

Thanks for your comment and advice!

Just ran through the reservation checklist here, there is a row called 'Drainage layout' (the word 'layout' was crossed over by the sales guy). Next to it, the sales guy wrote ' ADOPTABLE REV I', then a tick on the 'YES" column (as in he did go through this with me I guess).

The sales guy has written down a lot of short notes on the checklist, but most of them really don't make sense to me, such as REV L, REV D, REV C, etc..

There is also a written note saying 'SALE SUBJECT TO EXCHANGE OF CONTRACT WITHIN 28 DAYS FROM RECEIPT WITH A 5% DEPOSIT'.

The reservation agreement was made on 29 March 2015, so it is well over the 28 days terms of sale.

BartyBoy

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I have one of the smallest back gardens in the world but somehow have 4 manhole covers scattered randomly throughout the tiny lawn (none near the edges!).

Appearance is one thing, the other thing concerns me is whether all these 5 manholes are for the property in my plot only or the neighbours are using them too. I read some online stories saying if the neighbour's property connects to the manhole that sits in my land, any problems to the neighbour's drainage, I will be responsible to pay for repair and maintenance.

This is why I questioned myself why I get 5 manholes in my plot of land, my property is a small three bedrooms house.

BartyBoy

booksurr wrote: »

after all you haven't even committed to it yet

That is true

BartyBoy

Marktheshark wrote: »

Any sudden down pour in summer, any blocked drain or bog and your garden is getting the lot all over it.

That is a good wake up call, thank you!

Running_On_Empty

I live in a 60 year old house and have three inspection chambers, AKA manhole covers. No, you wont be flooded out by them when one gets blocked and it rains! If one gets blocked, very rare, you get it cleared, a man with an extending rod comes and clears it or you do it yourself.
Stop being a drama queen and enjoy watching your new house being built. Take photos. You will enjoy looking at them in years to come.

Davesnave

People are often more are concerned about the appearance of these inspection chambers, rather than focusing on where the drains relating to them are, which properties they go to and what their function is.

If you are planning any kind of extension, then a first consideration will be whether it involves building over a public sewer. If it does, you might have problems.

Sewers that are shared are 'public.' You won't be responsible for maintaining these. You are only responsible for the pipes used exclusively by your property.

Neither Running on Empty, nor any of us, can give assurances about flooding from drains.

GaleSF63

I wouldn't like one in the middle of the lawn either but as to the number, have you ever noticed how many there are normally - like where you are living now, and how many do other people have, etc. No I don't know the answer either but I think it's probably something we don't notice normally; they will be rather more obvious on a new hardly started plot.

Have other plots got them in the middle of the garden? Is there another plot that would suit you that you could buy without losing your deposit?