Drainage claim rejected - poor worksmanship

carless

Hi - I am hoping that i am posting this in the correct place. I have been through a number of posts and was unable to find anything too similar.
I recently purchased a property in March (4 months ago). The property is a Leasehold detatched home. The property was only built in 2004. We noticed a bad smell with the drains so I contacted the insurer who requested one of their companies to come to the property and inspect the drains with a camera. The man was really pleasant and put cameras through the pipes. He found that the main drainage pipe had a reservoir and was partially blocked with foul drainage underneath the hallway, about 6 foot from the manhole. He knocked some of it clear with the camera. Having completed his investigation he said that the pipe was bowed and needed to be replaced which would involve digging up the hallway (suspect that the floor is concrete underneath). 
He has sent his report to the insurer who have contacted this morning and rejected the claim as they have stated that the original property build used Poor Worksmanship which has caused the pipe to bow. I checked my insurance and there is indeed a General Exclusion for poor worksmanship. Is it possible that a property 18 years old has only just developed this issue? I am now looking at a significant outlay that I cannot afford. Do i have any recourse with the people who sold me the house or maybe the developers? I dont think i have any opportunity to claim against the freeholder either. I can see that if i had bought from the developer, i would be able to claim from them, but am not sure of my rights since i purchased the property from the previous owners. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a small baby at home and i feel sick having just been informed that i am not covered having stretched all of my budget to buy a relatively new home.

Thank you in advance

Aylesbury_Duck

The previous owners have no liability unless you have evidence they deliberately withheld information about the drainage problem.  Given that you bought it only recently, the first thing I'd do is speak to your conveyancer for some advice.  S/he may be able to recommend what's possible in the circumstances.

Yes, it's possible for a problem to develop.  It may have been present for a long time, or it could have occurred recently.  I suspect that what's happened is that the ground has moved over time as a result of moisture.  Do you have any large trees very near to the house, or any large trees that have recently been cut down?  Made any significant changes to the house, e.g. extension, conservatory, etc?  Or it may of course just be down to climate and the ground moving as it gets significant rainfall or drought.  

carless

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The previous owners have no liability unless you have evidence they deliberately withheld information about the drainage problem.  Given that you bought it only recently, the first thing I'd do is speak to your conveyancer for some advice.  S/he may be able to recommend what's possible in the circumstances.

Yes, it's possible for a problem to develop.  It may have been present for a long time, or it could have occurred recently.  I suspect that what's happened is that the ground has moved over time as a result of moisture.  Do you have any large trees very near to the house, or any large trees that have recently been cut down?  Made any significant changes to the house, e.g. extension, conservatory, etc?  Or it may of course just be down to climate and the ground moving as it gets significant rainfall or drought.  

Thank you. I have raised to the conveyancer now. I am still a little unsure as to how they can confirm that it is poor worksmanship if it was built and operable for 18 years. There are a couple of relatively big trees on the perimeter of the garden but i wouldnt have thought that they would be interfering. There was nothing flagged up on the searches or on my survey. There is an extension to the rear of the property that was built in 2016 but this pipe extends from the manhole outside the front door for about 9 foot under the hallway so doesnt really go near the extension. I think this pipe has been at the property sinc ethe original build in 2004.

TrickyDicky101

It may be because the pipes weren't properly bedded in gravel making the pipes susceptible to 'bowing' after any ground movement.  This would indeed be a 'poor workmanship' issue.  I only know this because we suffered exactly the same issue in our current house - fortunately for us it was the drain from our downstairs loo that exited the property across our drive so was much easier to get at than yours sounds to be.

user1977

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The previous owners have no liability unless you have evidence they deliberately withheld information about the drainage problem.  Given that you bought it only recently, the first thing I'd do is speak to your conveyancer for some advice.  S/he may be able to recommend what's possible in the circumstances.

That's "withholding information in answer to questions actually asked" - there's no duty to flag up problems with a property (even if they had been aware). I can't think of any (normal) enquiry which would be relevant here, so I very much doubt the vendor is liable for anything.

The OP is probably better off figuring out if it really is poor workmanship to blame rather than some other (insured) event which has caused the problem.