No clarity on drains and sewers after searches.

hdh74

When we got the TA6 for the property we are buying nothing had been filled out on the form regarding surface drainage or foul water drainage. We tried asking the vendor and got no answers. (He is/acts rather clueless).  Under who bills you for sewerage he put N/a - though he listed a normal water company for the water. We asked to see a water bill but he could not find one.The house is on a suburban estate, not out in the sticks. We mentioned it to our solicitor at the time but he said the searches would clarify. The search has come back with no drainage or sewerage shown on the property. I am aware that some maps are not up to date. The report shows several items marked as 'unanswered' and some as 'insured.' They have put 'inferred' as mains drainage due to proximity of mains sewer (a couple of properties away) but say we should rely on the TA6 and seller's information (useless obv). My first thoughts are to put this on our list of queries with the solicitor, see if the local water company can shed any light, and ask the seller yet again for a water bill. 
Adding to my concerns is the fact that the house has two small single-story extensions added. I know no way of ascertaining if these are built over drains. Some of the drains appear to be hidden underground and some are beneath decking. 
I'm loathe to proceed without further info. 
Does anyone know of any other avenues I could pursue to get more info please?

Slinky

You could check the local planning portal to see if the extensions were done under planning permission and if there is any record of a buildover agreement (might come under building control rather than planning).

user1977

Usually it's pretty obvious whether the water/drainage is public or private, and if it's a standard suburban development then it's going to be connected up to the mains rather than something weird going on, so really I wouldn't get excited about getting a definitive answer on that point.

If you want to know for certain where all the drains go (and what condition they're in) you might be best to get your own specialist survey done.

housebuyer143

As above. There is nothing worse than your only drain access point under an extension..
I bought a house with the drain under the single storey extension which was concreted over and then when the poor old drains blocked, up came the concrete floor! 
Nightmare. You definitely don't want that. 

hdh74

So I have ascertained where the manhole cover is and it is accessible by lifting out part of the decking. That doesn't seem to be a problem. 
I cannot guarantee that the extension hasn't been built over pipework. It was built prior to 2011 so no right to build over agreement would have been needed. 
The drains would probably have been adopted by the local water company as there is almost certainly shared drainage for more than one property leading to the mains drains. There must be drains from 'our' property crossing a neighbour's property to reach the main sewer, which is marked on the plans a couple of properties over from ours. Reading up tells me that if the extension is built over the pipe then the pipe would remain private. Not sure if that's all the pipes to the property or just that bit.
Is there a way, apart from the water company map which the search brought up and shows no info, that I can find out what is adopted?
I know if I bought the property and there was a blockage that the water company would find out then, but that doesn't help much atm. I have emailed them to ask if they can help.
Our current buildings insurance covers drainage problems so I'm assuming we could get the same cover for the new house?

Snookie12cat

hdh74 said:

So I have ascertained where the manhole cover is and it is accessible by lifting out part of the decking. That doesn't seem to be a problem. 
I cannot guarantee that the extension hasn't been built over pipework. It was built prior to 2011 so no right to build over agreement would have been needed. 
The drains would probably have been adopted by the local water company as there is almost certainly shared drainage for more than one property leading to the mains drains. There must be drains from 'our' property crossing a neighbour's property to reach the main sewer, which is marked on the plans a couple of properties over from ours. Reading up tells me that if the extension is built over the pipe then the pipe would remain private. Not sure if that's all the pipes to the property or just that bit.
Is there a way, apart from the water company map which the search brought up and shows no info, that I can find out what is adopted?
I know if I bought the property and there was a blockage that the water company would find out then, but that doesn't help much atm. I have emailed them to ask if they can help.
Our current buildings insurance covers drainage problems so I'm assuming we could get the same cover for the new house?

If the man hole isn't covered and inaccessible and it was built over drains that were private before 2011 then there is no issue. The drains will have been adopted, even if they were built over providing they are shared 

You can get an indemnity in case something comes up from this unless you have made the water board aware, at which point it's not possible. 

Based on what you have said, I wouldn't have concerns buying it. 

Section62

hdh74 said:

I cannot guarantee that the extension hasn't been built over pipework. It was built prior to 2011 so no right to build over agreement would have been needed. 

That depends on whether or not the drain/sewer was public at the time the extension was built.

There is a common misconception that buildover agreements didn't exist before 2011.  That is wrong.  Buildover agreements were required for public sewers before 2011.

The change that happened in 2011 wasn't buildover agreements coming into existence, rather it was a vast increase in the length of public sewer in people's private property for which a buildover agreement would now be required.

Do you know when the property was constructed?

hdh74

The property was constructed in the 1960s @Section62 and the extension added prior to 1999. Single story, permitted development. 

Section62

hdh74 said:

The property was constructed in the 1960s Section62 and the extension added prior to 1999. Single story, permitted development. 

Ok, so unless you are in one of the local authority areas where Section 24-type adoptions continued into the mid-60's, the drain/sewer would normally only be public if it was specifically adopted by the sewerage undertaker (or relatively unlikely, it was there before the houses were built).

If the current sewerage undertaker has no record of the drain/sewer then it decreases the probability of it being specifically adopted prior to 2011.

And if that is the case then it would only have become a public sewer in 2011 (assuming it is shared and ultimately connected to a public sewer).

hdh74

That's really helpful. Thank you very much @Section62