Would you buy a house that's built over a public sewer?

beb4

Section62 said:

beb4 said:

Trying to figure out how much it'd potentially put future buyers off.

You need a "Maybe" option as well.

In your case I'd say 'maybe' tending towards 'no' as you tried to get a survey done with inconclusive results.

I'd also not place so much faith in the advice of the water company to warrant the "HIGHLY" being in block caps.  The advice is probably from someone working in a call centre giving generic answers to customer enquiries, not advice specific to your situation.

There's also a world of difference between a public sewer serving two houses, and a trunk sewer.  Without taking the type of sewer, age, depth, construction materials etc into account the answer for me would always be "maybe".

Thank you, what do you mean by "you tried to get survey and it was inconclusive"? 

I spoke to the developer services team, not the customer services call centre folk. I also spoke to someone who used to be an engineer at the water company who also wasn't concerned.

Pipe is 6" and services 10 houses including mine.

Section62

beb4 said:

Section62 said:

beb4 said:

Trying to figure out how much it'd potentially put future buyers off.

You need a "Maybe" option as well.

In your case I'd say 'maybe' tending towards 'no' as you tried to get a survey done with inconclusive results.

I'd also not place so much faith in the advice of the water company to warrant the "HIGHLY" being in block caps.  The advice is probably from someone working in a call centre giving generic answers to customer enquiries, not advice specific to your situation.

There's also a world of difference between a public sewer serving two houses, and a trunk sewer.  Without taking the type of sewer, age, depth, construction materials etc into account the answer for me would always be "maybe".

Thank you, what do you mean by "you tried to get survey and it was inconclusive"?

Discussed in some detail in your other thread on the subject -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6359214/public-combined-sewer-running-under-living-room-1905-house-and-no-build-over-agreement

In particular - "The issue is that I don't know where the access to the pipe is, whether its under the house or not. The surveyor said they could only get limited access via an inspection chamber in the back garden and that most of the drainage system is hidden from view"

beb4 said:

I spoke to the developer services team, not the customer services call centre folk. I also spoke to someone who used to be an engineer at the water company who also wasn't concerned.

If you and your drainage surveyor don't know where the pipe access is, and know that most of the drainage system is hidden from view, then both the water company and your friend can only be giving generic advice rather than advice specific to your situation.

Uncertainty in this situation is possibly the greatest risk. The buyer has no idea whether they are buying a major problem, or a non-issue.  I've worked as an engineer in sewerage and would be concerned - mainly because of the lack of information about this pipe and the access arrangements.

beb4

Section62 said:

beb4 said:

Section62 said:

beb4 said:

Trying to figure out how much it'd potentially put future buyers off.

You need a "Maybe" option as well.

In your case I'd say 'maybe' tending towards 'no' as you tried to get a survey done with inconclusive results.

I'd also not place so much faith in the advice of the water company to warrant the "HIGHLY" being in block caps.  The advice is probably from someone working in a call centre giving generic answers to customer enquiries, not advice specific to your situation.

There's also a world of difference between a public sewer serving two houses, and a trunk sewer.  Without taking the type of sewer, age, depth, construction materials etc into account the answer for me would always be "maybe".

Thank you, what do you mean by "you tried to get survey and it was inconclusive"?

Discussed in some detail in your other thread on the subject -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6359214/public-combined-sewer-running-under-living-room-1905-house-and-no-build-over-agreement

In particular - "The issue is that I don't know where the access to the pipe is, whether its under the house or not. The surveyor said they could only get limited access via an inspection chamber in the back garden and that most of the drainage system is hidden from view"

beb4 said:

I spoke to the developer services team, not the customer services call centre folk. I also spoke to someone who used to be an engineer at the water company who also wasn't concerned.

If you and your drainage surveyor don't know where the pipe access is, and know that most of the drainage system is hidden from view, then both the water company and your friend can only be giving generic advice rather than advice specific to your situation.

Uncertainty in this situation is possibly the greatest risk. The buyer has no idea whether they are buying a major problem, or a non-issue.  I've worked as an engineer in sewerage and would be concerned - mainly because of the lack of information about this pipe and the access arrangements.

Ah got you! So I found out that there's no manhole cover under the house which is positive. The water company advised that there's a manhole in the road that they'd access the pipe through.

The surveyor mentioned in that quote was a standard homebuyers report surveyor, not a drainage specialist, but they've also since come back to confirm there's a manhole for access.

Section62

beb4 said:

Ah got you! So I found out that there's no manhole cover under the house which is positive. The water company advised that there's a manhole in the road that they'd access the pipe through.

How have you established there is no manhole cover under the house?  Have you had a CCTV survey done now?

beb4 said:

The surveyor mentioned in that quote was a standard homebuyers report surveyor, not a drainage specialist, but they've also since come back to confirm there's a manhole for access.

Hence 'inconclusive'. The survey should really have been followed up by a CCTV inspection of the drains, and in particular the pipe under the house. This would (hopefully) remove a lot of the uncertainty.