HELP! Drainage issues on house purchase

jowright95

Hi!

My partner and I are in the process of buying our first house, however we are in a pickle.

When we put an offer on the house, nothing at all was mentioned about the water drainage but the sellers have been in the process of moving from cess-pit to mains drainage. The work got carried out in Feb but the private connection work itself won't take place until mid-May. The we have to wait until we get an 'invitation to connect' letter which will arrive around 3rd June. THEN we can connect.

Our solicitor's advice was to wait until the connection has taken place so as to avoid paying the fee (the figure of which is unknown at this point as we're waiting to hear back with a quote), however in an email to the contractor, the seller was asking for the quote so WE knew how much we would have to pay!

We were never told about any of this and we don't think we should have to pay for it, but we're worried in case the sellers decide to pull out if they have to wait too long! They have already said that June wouldn't work for them to complete in...

What would you do? Would you just pay it so you can move in quicker (and not lose the sellers), or wait and make them pay (but I don't think they will be at all happy!)?

davidmcn

Why would the sellers pull out? They'd just have to start from scratch and find another buyer (as well as, presumably, pay for the connection themselves anyway).

jowright95

They might not, maybe I'm over thinking it! But if it were you, would you make them pay for it?

Doozergirl

They're unlikely to find anyone else to complete in that time.

That said, you can knock the price of the quote off the house. A cess pit is a severe inconvenience, and a particular annoyance if there's mains drainage nearby. I wouldn't be paying for it if the vendor had already started the process.

Is it an actual cesspit that needs constant emptying or are they having to change their method from a septic tank because of the new Environment Agency rules that can affect the sale of a house if the discharge method isn't compliant?

I wouldn't be paying for it as buyer, no. I've literally just had to organise a new water treatment plant to replace a septic tank for someone selling, so they weren't expecting the buyers to pay either.

I don't think many buyers would be happy to pay.

jowright95

But our reluctance to do that is that the quote is simply a quote, if it increases we would then be stuck paying the rest.

At the moment they use a cesspit but it's broken (so it's needing emptying every two months rather than twice a year) and it is shared with two other neighbours.

Thanks so much for your quick responses

davidmcn

If the sellers were doing the work anyway I'm not sure where the idea that you'd be paying for any of it has come from? Especially if it wasn't marketed as "connected to faulty cesspit".

Doozergirl

jowright95 wrote: »

But our reluctance to do that is that the quote is simply a quote, if it increases we would then be stuck paying the rest.

At the moment they use a cesspit but it's broken (so it's needing emptying every two months rather than twice a year) and it is shared with two other neighbours.

Thanks so much for your quick responses

Literally a nightmare. The new connection is necessary, not a nice to have. Not a chance would I share a cesspit with neighbours.

A quote is a quote, not an estimate. If the specification is correct then the price is fixed.

I'd wait though.

jowright95

Oh so if the price is fixed, we could safely ask for them to pay and move in knowing we won't be paying anything?

davidmcn

jowright95 wrote: »

Oh so if the price is fixed, we could safely ask for them to pay and move in knowing we won't be paying anything?

You wouldn't be paying anything anyway for a contract between the vendor and the contractor doing the work (unless you agree something to the contrary). What's important to you is whether the work has actually been done properly.

jowright95

But if we moved in part way through the works being carried out (say we moved in on May 6th but works won't be signed off until 16th May) then we would become liable to pay for it - am I correct?

davidmcn

jowright95 wrote: »

But if we moved in part way through the works being carried out (say we moved in on May 6th but works won't be signed off until 16th May) then we would become liable to pay for it - am I correct?

No, there's no general principle that the new owner of a house magically becomes liable for contracts which the previous owners entered into. But why would you want to move in 10 days before the works are done?

Apart from anything else, if you're buying with a mortgage then your lender probably won't want to lend on a house with no public sewerage connection and a wonky shared cesspit.