Buying a house with manhole under the dining room extension

April995

Thank you for your advice everyone - just for a bit of an update, The estate agents got back to me and said the owner, unfortunately, knows nothing about it, but he thinks it's just for his house and its something to do with rainwater. He said he's happy for us to send someone over there to take a look and let us know what it is (it sounded like this would be at our expense?)
It sounds like something worth doing prior to putting an offer in, however, we have no idea who we are supposed to reach out to in order to get an inspection, would this be the water company or a local contractor of some sort?
I assume were hoping for the inspector to say that it's only for the one house and is double sealed, and in that case, we don't need to worry (other than its a very unattractive cover in the middle of the extension)?

April995

JGB1955 said:

I would avoid it at all costs.  I used to work in the office at a local school.  My state-of-the-art new office was built over a manhole cover.  I cannot describe the horror and smell when the drains got blocked - maybe once every two years.  Having Dynarod jetting the drains in the middle of a room you use daily is not an experience I would wish on anyone.

Hi, is this something that would be avoided by a double seal? I've read that it stops any flooding and odour? 
Also, did any damage occur to your office off the back of using the manhole to clear the blockage? 

jonnygee2

The estate agents got back to me and said the owner, unfortunately, knows nothing about it

Some might say he should pull his finger out and find out if he wants to sell his house ;-) .

Still, you can start by requesting sewer maps from the water company that serves the area. 

princeofpounds

You can get a drain survey, which may provide you with more information about what is under there and the state of repair. If you want to.

I would have a very different attitude to this depending on whether it was my own private drain, or whether it was public or other people had rights to use it.

JamoLew

ToasterScheme said:

This thread has gone overwhelmingly negative quite quickly. But it seems to me (probably, and most likely) that this used to be in the garden (where it was fine, unopened for many years), and then the extension was built over it. 
HTH

agree about where it used to be - what would "concern" me is the quality of the extension being that they couldn't be bothered/afford to move it at the time

Soot2006

In some areas, like mine, this is really common. The manholes were right behind the bungalows, so 40-50 years later, the manholes are now all in extensions and conservatories.  In some cases, the entire thing has been concreted into the extension - eek! But if it's done properly, like yours sounds i.e. left openable without damage to the floor, then it's your personal feelings about it that will determine if you can live with it or not.  Clearly the current owner just chucks a rug over it .... It's like many other things with house buying, the things that put off some buyers are so trivial to others that they don't  even register as a discussion point.  

AdrianC

April995 said:

Thank you for your advice everyone - just for a bit of an update, The estate agents got back to me and said the owner, unfortunately, knows nothing about it, but he thinks it's just for his house and its something to do with rainwater. He said he's happy for us to send someone over there to take a look and let us know what it is (it sounded like this would be at our expense?)

Of course... Any local drainage firm or plumber will look.

April995 said:

JGB1955 said:

I would avoid it at all costs.  I used to work in the office at a local school.  My state-of-the-art new office was built over a manhole cover.  I cannot describe the horror and smell when the drains got blocked - maybe once every two years.  Having Dynarod jetting the drains in the middle of a room you use daily is not an experience I would wish on anyone.

Hi, is this something that would be avoided by a double seal? I've read that it stops any flooding and odour? 
Also, did any damage occur to your office off the back of using the manhole to clear the blockage? 

The double seal stops odours when the lid is closed. Obviously, to use the access point to clear a blockage, the lid needs to be open...

FreeBear

I have a manhole in the middle of my kitchen extension - When the extension was built in the mid 70s, a heavy sealed lid was fitted. Never had any trouble with it, and the first time it was lifted was about two years ago. That was only to investigate a blockage upstream, and it was a right pig to break the seal and darned heavy to lift. To my mind, as long as the seals are intact and it is rated for internal use, a manhole cover isn't a deal breaker.

If it were part of a shared foul water drain, I might reconsider..

daivid

FreeBear said:

If it were part of a shared foul water drain, I might reconsider..

Very much this. There is no way I would buy a house with an extension over an access point to a shared foul drain (unless I was planning to demolish said extension). I've experienced living next door to people who flushed nappies down their toilets, luckily the drain was not shared nor under the house but the stink when the blockage was cleared was awful. If the drain is yours alone you can be much more confident (or not I suppose...) of not having any issues providing all is good to start with.

steve866

This wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, depending on the purpose of the manhole. A helped a friend remove some decking from his garden and discovered a man hole cover underneath, no idea what it was for but he had lived there many years.