Moving a manhole - how expensive?

TadleyBaggie

You asked about this manhole in July:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6170964/buying-a-house-with-manhole-under-the-dining-room-extension#latest
The answer was the same then, walk away!

bris

It's in the house so it's private, building over it was a stupid thing to do it's going to cause problems, maybe not today, but someday it's a problem waiting to happen, 

Buying a house with a manhole in it is not very clever, and to move it would be thousands, in the high thousands at that.

We had a collapsed drain shared by 3 properties and had to get the insurance involved as that cost 9k between the 3 of us. That was to just dig down and repair it, cant imagine what trying to move one of these would cost if it could even be done,

TELLIT01

I agree with the previous advice to find another property.  If you go ahead with the purchase, and the cost of rerouting the drain is prohibitive, or the work not possible, you will never be comfortable living there.

Owain_Moneysaver

April995 said:

Are you saying there is no way we can ever move this? Unfortunately, its right in the middle of the extension is an eyesore and a trip hazard, and from reading the email the water company sent me it seems like it is a flooding hazard too. 
From my research, it seemed like adding a rodding eye could be a possible solution?

A rodding eye is not a substitute for a manhole. 
It should have been built flush to the finished floor with a matching infill panel. We had one in our kitchen and put a rig over it. 
Admittedly if there had been a major problem with the drains and the kitchen had flooded with sewage it wouldn't have been nice, but there was no other option for a rear extension. At that time it was legal to build over sewers with a double sealed manhole cover. We accepted the slight risk and so did the people buying after us. 

Sistergold

I am not a builder so ofcause I might be wrong but how will one relocate a manhole after an extension has been built? Why even consider it? Best accept house as is or walk away! Whatever quotation you get is not even what it will work out to be! 

Davesnave

Sistergold said:

I am not a builder so ofcause I might be wrong but how will one relocate a manhole after an extension has been built?

It might not be very hard, but it depends how many properties the sewer serves and, crucially, how much land in the right place is owned for re-routing it. As these things seem to be something of a mystery, it's a 'pig in a poke.'