Indemnity Policies/ Garage over sewer - Help!

sam3103

Hi all.
We are purchasing a semi detached house with a garage and it has just been revealed to us the following: (I am quoting direct from the paperwork)

The sellers failed to obtain a buildover agreement with the water board and it appears the garage at the property has been built over a public sewer (the garage was built back in the 60s way before the seller bought it). They therefore have suggested an indemnity policy to be put in place..... Policies protect in the event action is taken by the local water board due to them being unable to access their apparatus, and you suffer a loss or down valuation as a result"

Has anyone experienced anything like this before? I am totally bewildered. All the properties on the road have garages. Could this become an issue for us or shall we just continue?

david1951

If you are a cash buyer it is up to you whether you get the indemnity. Usually they aren't worth that much but I guess if, for whatever reason, the water board needed access then they might need to take down the garage. If you don't have the indemnity in place then you might be liable for this and have to pay for repair/reconstruction of the garage. You may even have to pay for the demolition of the garage.

I'm not sure as to the likelihood that they would have to gain access immediately beneath your garage.

If you have a mortgage then you will probably need to get the indemnity policy anyway as they will require something in place.

sam3103

Ok great thanks for the info. It's nice just to have to explained in plain English!
The sellers have offered to pay for the indemnity policy which covers 10 years so at least it won't cost us anything immediately

david1951

That's nice of them! I was going to add that you can request the seller to pay for the policy.

An indemnity policy I had to get lasts forever, and passes to subsequent owners. Maybe see how much it would cost to extend the policy so you don't have to think about it in 10 years' time.

...or just press on and forget about it

lr1277

You may have thought of this, but are there manholes either side of the garage, along the path of the sewer?
Is the manhole directly under the garage?
How is access gained to the sewer if a blockage needs to be cleared?
I ask because in my last house (a rental), the sewer may have been under an extension or it was under the paving stones straight outside the extension. Luckily when the extension was built, the sewer was diverted to take account of the extension. This was lucky as the blockage was just after the manhole under the paving stones.

dc197

If the garage has been over the sewers since the 1960s without having to be demolished, I'd guess that there is only a small chance that something will crop up under your ownership.

Davesnave

I had a garage over a sewer. The inspection chamber went down 2 metres and you could climb inside it, so there was no chance of rodding in the usual manner! It was also a good 25m from the garage, while beyond was some sort of underground weir. When I asked the guy from the Water Board where it went then, he said, "Your guess is as good as mine!" Presumably, other people had buildings over that uncharted bit too.

Back in those days, nobody gave a flying fig about this stuff, or had thought of selling people dubious insurances based on the fear of some major sewage catastrophe....;)