Buying a home with a culverted watercourse.

abigailclayton

Hello.
We are first time buyers and have recently fell in love with a home. It has previously had 2 sales fall through however, the vendors explained this was due to a breakdown in the chain from other buys. Today we received the report from the drainage and water search and it has been brought to light that we have a watercourse that runs down the right hand side of our house not underneath the house but along the driveway, garage and through the garden. We are a little unsure on whether to continue with the sale due to the adversity it may cause having a watercourse when we decided to sell in the future. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

MaryNB

My only input is to have a look at riparian rights. They include responsibilities of anybody who owns land with a water course on it. You could be responsible for maintaining it and ensuring there is no obstruction. And I think there's something about accepting flood water from it if it does flood. 

Tbh I don't know much about riparian rights at all except that they exist but there can be responsibilities associated with them so I recommend you talk to your solicitor about them. 

abigailclayton

Thanks! We aren’t to bothered about the watercourse personally it’s more so for future buyers if it would put them off buying the house just to see if it is worth us committing to the house 

greatcrested

I had a small stream at the bottom of my last garden. Nice wildlife! Not a problem.

Naturally you will look into flood risk etc.

abigailclayton

greatcrested said:

I had a small stream at the bottom of
my last garden. Nice wildlife! Not a problem.

Naturally you will look into flood risk etc.

Thank you! Did it put other buyers off buying your property when you sold it? 

Falafels

If I'd checked the flood risk and it was OK, I'd positively welcome a stream at the bottom of the garden! Far from putting me off, it would definitely be a positive feature.

ProDave

We have a stream through our garden and it is a nice feature.

But you mention a CULVERTED stream which basically means it has been buried in a pipe. So you can't see it, you get no benefit from it, but it is still there.

You won't be able to build or extend over that bit of land and you will still be responsible if it blocks but with no way to tell what condition it is in.

Lespaul1960

I used to live in a house with a stream running along the side of the garden, and then into a culvert with a iron grid across it ,to catch debris before it entered the underground section. I have to say it was a constant source of problems and worry. When there was heavy rain the water level in the stream could rise alarmingly due to rubbish building up. I realise this may be a totally different situation to the one you face, but just thought i would share my experience...