Public Sewer - Under the house. Please Help!

hounsehunterftb · 16 October 2020 at 3:20PM

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

hounsehunterftb said:

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

We had an issue with a sewer that ended up with us withdrawing. Slightly different scenario that made the situation worse.
People had built on the land adjacent to their house. They built over the sewer that connected their house to the main road. Even though it was only 1 house that the sewer went to it was still public meaning a build over agreement should have been sought and it wasn't. There was no option to get a build over agreement retrospectively so there was a risk (albeit very small) that we could be asked to demolish the house. We couldn't get indemnity insurance as the sewer company were made aware of the issues as part of our investigations.
My lines of inquiry would be:
1. When was the house built?
2. Has the drain always been public or was it made public as part of the 2011 transfers?
3. Was a build over agreement in place?
If the drain was previously private but made public in 2011 then you would have automatic build over.

You'd likely get a build over agreement for the extension so this wouldn't be too much of a concern to me. The footings may cost a little more and you may have to move the man hole that will have an expense (this will depend on the size of the extension and the proximity to drains stipulated in any build over agreement).
If there was never a build over agreement I would walk away. If it is just related to future extensions I wouldn't see an issue as this is fairy common.

Thanks a lot for your reply And for sharing the line of inquiry. We would ask them to our solicitors. They just confirmed that they have raised further queries but would send him an email anyway
The house was built somewhere around in early-to-mid 1980s.
So this build over agreement is with the water authorities (whenever we have to apply for extension)?
Yes, you apply to your local water authority.
Should the build over agreement have been in place since the house was build over 1980s?
I think it is likely that all the houses were built together. The drain being built at the time would have been private but made public in 2011. If this is the case then no build over would have been needed as the house would have been installed at the same time. I'd guess it was made into a public sewer in 2011.
What if they can't present the build over agreement? Any way around (I guess we will speak to our solicitors about this as well)
[As above I think it is unlikely they would have needed one if the houses were built at the same time and the sewers only serves other houses on the estate
How can we find out if the sewer was previously private and then made public after 2011? And if that is the case we would have automatic build over which implies we wouldn't have to apply for this extra build over agreement?
Through the water company
Sorry for some more questions. Thank you again!

Answered above. I would note that all my answers are based on my experience/ research I did when buying our previous house so may not be 100% correct.

I appreciate this greatly! Thank you!

hounsehunterftb · 16 October 2020 at 3:24PM

We have sent an email to our solicitors compiling all the queries so far. Having said that, our solicitor confirmed that the queries have already been raised from our side. So mostly whatever we sent might have been covered already. But we sent them anyway.
We sent these queries so far.

Is build over agreement already in place? (Would be great to get that copy for our perusal and for our documentation)
If the sewer was private and then made public, is there proof or documentation for that?
Have the vendors or anyone (previous owners etc) to the best of their knowledge ever had to give access to water authority for maintenance, repairs or inspection of the sewer?
Whether it had caused issues of flooding?
Did the current vendors plan for any extensions ever and applied for build over agreement with the authorities? If so, what was the outcome?
If the public sewer has been diverted or altered?

I guess.. the second question doesn't apply as confirmed on this thread, given the house was built in 1980s and that private sewer were taken over by water authorities in 2011.
@Doozergirl
@FinallyStoppedLurking

hounsehunterftb · 16 October 2020 at 4:36PM

Our solicitor just mentioned and I guess he was reiteraring the search report that.
"It is usually that any public sewer lines that are within your property are your responsibility however any sewer lines that fall onto public roads and paths are adopted by the local council and are at the expense of the public."
We thought the public sewer even within our property boundary was the responsibility of water authority? Or have i misunderstood this?