No Build Over Agreement for extension - Experience, Next Steps...

sammo456

Hi

We are currently in the midst of buying our first property. We've had an arduous journey so far with one failed purchase (no movement in chain, chain collapse) and now we are at the enquiries stage of our next purchase. 

The property is in our dream location and we have staved off lots of interest to have a successful offer in place - but our searches have discovered that the rear extension, completed this year (with appropriate building regulations sign off) does not seem to have a build over agreement in place. Our solicitor has raised enquiries against this. 

Does anyone have any recent experience of this problem? I've done a little research and it seems the options would be as follows; 

- Vendor secures retrospective permission - though at the risk of permission not being granted/the building having to be re-renovated. 
- Vendor provides indemnity insurance and sale continues - not advising owner of sewer so indemnity valid

Things to note are that it looks like at least 3 properties per street in the local area have built over the sewer line, and there is still access to the pipe in neighbouring properties. 

- Do you think this is a major, serious concern that should result in us pulling out? (We are desperate not to do this) 
- What would you do in this situation? 
- Would building regulations sign off mean that the sewer has been accounted for in the build with effective reinforcements to protect the sewer pipe? 

Looking forward to hearing advice.

Snookie12cat

When was the extension built? When was the house built?

sammo456

Snookie12cat said:

When was the extension built? When was the house built?

Extension was finalised in July 2021, the house was built in 1959. 

Section62

sammo456 said:

- What would you do in this situation?

Personally I'd pull out.  If someone hasn't bothered to do the job properly there's no telling what other shortcuts they've taken.

sammo456 said:

- Would building regulations sign off mean that the sewer has been accounted for in the build with effective reinforcements to protect the sewer pipe?

There's no way of telling.  Whoever did the signoff won't necessarily know about the sewer, and it isn't their job to work out whether or not a public sewer has been protected to the sewerage undertaker's requirements.

However, if you do want to go ahead you should commission a CCTV survey of the sewers to find out what you are dealing with - both in terms of condition of the pipe(s) and also how the drainage of this property is connected. The presence of manholes in the neighbouring properties is neither here nor there if there is now a manhole on this property which is now buried under the extension.  The CCTV survey will give you a guide to the level of risk you may be taking by buying with an indemnity policy in place.

Snookie12cat

sammo456 said:

Snookie12cat said:

When was the extension built? When was the house built?

Extension was finalised in July 2021, the house was built in 1959. 

At a minimum you need an indemnity for the build over. Otherwise if the water board come wanting access you could be in for a nasty bill and damage to your property.

Is there still access to the manhole? I say this because if not, should your drains block and you need access, you won't have it. Or if the water board want to access it, same problem. I had this in a house I purchased and we ended up ripping up the floor to get to it because you can't rely on the neighbors manhole to cover yours. 

Maybe worth commissioning a structural engineer to check on the building to see if it's been built correctly if you wanted to go ahead. 

aoleks

First of all, find out what exactly has been built over. When you build an extension, you move your rain water drain, your toilet drain, your sink/washing machine drain. Whatever used to be a “drainage”, will now be moved. The main question is how it was moved or replaced.

how do you know about the drains, first and first of all?

what kind of drains are they?

was there a manhole under the extension?

were the drains private or public?

are there other drains nearby?

personally, I wouldn’t mind as long as I had the right inshrance in place, but I’m a natural risk taker.