Proposed purchase with extension having no build over agreement

Swaraj

Hi,
We are near to exchange and it appears that the an extension built around 2013 has no build over agreement. There seems to be an access point/man hole within the property's extended area but we cannot see it, as it is under the flooring/carpet.

The vendor is offering an indemnity insurance. What are the implications?
Is the indemnity insurance sufficient?
What if the water authorities already know about this?

Would I face issues when I sell in the future or would this devalue the property?

Advice appreciated.

Thanks

Doozergirl

Do they have building control sign off? The buildover agreement forms part of building control on the extension. A building inspector would not allow an inspection chamber inside the house.

Is the drain definitely shared with others?

Swaraj

Thanks for the response.
There is a build reg and completion certificate issued in 2014/15.
that's baffling too, as the building reg wouldn't normally allow this

With regards to the other question of whether the drain is shared, I am assuming it is as it's a semi-detached property with neighbours on both sides.

Doozergirl

You can't assume if you're asking questions about Build Over Agreements.

If it's shared, then it needs one because it is adopted and effectively doesn't belong to you.

If it's solely belonging to the house at that point then the only person the homeowner needs to agree the build over with is themselves!

Swaraj

We have checked and there is public sewer over which the extn was built. The vendor is offering an indemnity insurance but I suspect the utility pravoider may be already aware making the indemnity insurance void.
Can there be a retrospective build over agreement?

Doozergirl

What the utility company are concerned with is not preventing the building over, but supervising maintained integrity of the pipe.

They ask for CCTV surveys before and after.

What you need is a CCTV survey of the drain to ensure that it is fine. You also want to know that there is access to clear the drain if it is needed. The guys doing the CCTV survey can tell you that as they'd be the same people clearing it if there were a blockage.

The utility company aren't going to come knocking for any reason other than impaired integrity as a result of the drains being built over. You can eliminate that question by checking. They only adopted the shared drains to houses built after 1936 in 2011. There's plenty of actual mess for them to sort out yet!

See if there is an actual manhole there. It's not what I would choose to have inside the house, but it wouldn't be the first house that did. We had one years ago.

Swaraj

Thanks Doozergirl,

the access point is within the property with a triple glazed cover hidden under the carpet.
Your advice of a cctv survey makes sense.

Thanks once again.

Swaraj

One more question though.
Considering the extn was done around 2014/15 are building regs allowed sign off without a build over agreement and with the man hole access point within the extn area?

Thanks

Doozergirl

Have you seen the Completion certificate? If it's approved, it's approved. As far as I'm concerned it isn't allowed anymore, but I don't work for Building Control! Perhaps this extension replaced something else in its place?

I very much doubt that you have a triple glazed cover(!), more likely a double sealed manhole cover.

Robin9

Swaraj wrote: »

the access point is within the property with a triple glazed cover hidden under the carpet..

That would make interesting viewing whenever the toilet was flushed .

sal_III

Bear in mind that the indemnity insurance only covers the cost of removing the illegal/offending structure. If it comes to that you will still end up with a smaller house. So if you go down that route, make sure this eventuality is reflected in the price.