House hunting - things to avoid

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

Noticed a few of them at the back of the house, about 1m from the wall, maybe less... the note reads "inspection cover". Haven't seen them before. Any guesses?

Most likely for the main drains from the size, they are normally used for clearing any blockages with rods if you get a blocked drain. If you lift it up there will be a hole about 3 or 4 foot deep, with an entrance and exit hole at each end, and often a semi circular half pipe along the bottom for the water and waste to flow along. 

Emily_Joy

Thanks - there 3 or 4 of those at the back. I pretty certain the house we live in at the moment hasn't got anything like that. I am wondering if (1) 24/7 access to them has to be maintened? (2) there is no way an extension could be built over? 

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

Thanks - there 3 or 4 of those at the back. I pretty certain the house we live in at the moment hasn't got anything like that. I am wondering if (1) 24/7 access to them has to be maintened? (2) there is no way an extension could be built over? 

They can be in various places, I have two, one is inside the porch and the other in the back garden behind the garage. It really depends where the drains are in relation to your property. 

Really it is better to have access available to them. If you do get a blocked drain it can back up and fill the chamber, which isn't pleasant ! The one in my porch has a wooden cover over it to make it level with the floor, then carpet over the top of that so I can get to it easily if needed.

Building an extension over one can cause a lot of problems !

Emily_Joy

A house came on the market last year, was then a bit over our limit. Has been reduced recently so now would be affordable. The only difference is that a note appeared on the EA website saying that this is extended 3 bedroom semi is not registered on the Land Registry. There is no property sale history on Rightmove. I am concerned that there might be surprises regarding extension, front and rear gardens... Is there anything I should/could check (or try to check) in advance?

FreeBear

Emily_Joy said:

A house came on the market last year, was then a bit over our limit. Has been reduced recently so now would be affordable. The only difference is that a note appeared on the EA website saying that this is extended 3 bedroom semi is not registered on the Land Registry. There is no property sale history on Rightmove. I am concerned that there might be surprises regarding extension, front and rear gardens... Is there anything I should/could check (or try to check) in advance?

It could be that the property has been in the same ownership for the last 40 years (or more) and has never been registered at the LR. Not that unusual, so it would be a good idea to ask if the vendor has all the deeds & conveyancing documents available so that a compulsory first registration can be completed (better still, get them to do the registration, but that could take six months or more).

As for the extension - Check the local council's planning portal to see if a planning application has been made. If the extension pre-dates the council's digital records, it just means it is waaaay out of time for any enforcement action. Get a detailed survey done, and ask for attention to be paid to the extension.

Postik

SandyN21 said:

If viewing during the day and the lights have been switched on...ask for them to be switched off to see how dark the rooms are during daytime hours. 

That was one of my tricks when selling my house. In fact, I looked round some new builds and copied some of the things that they did, including turning on all the lights.

pieroabcd

mi-key said:

Emily_Joy said:

Thanks - there 3 or 4 of those at the back. I pretty certain the house we live in at the moment hasn't got anything like that. I am wondering if (1) 24/7 access to them has to be maintened? (2) there is no way an extension could be built over? 

They can be in various places, I have two, one is inside the porch and the other in the back garden behind the garage. It really depends where the drains are in relation to your property. 

Really it is better to have access available to them. If you do get a blocked drain it can back up and fill the chamber, which isn't pleasant ! The one in my porch has a wooden cover over it to make it level with the floor, then carpet over the top of that so I can get to it easily if needed.

Building an extension over one can cause a lot of problems !

A few weeks ago I saw a house that had a manhole cover IN the kitchen!
I couldn't believe my eyes.

FreeBear

pieroabcd said:

mi-key said:

Emily_Joy said:

Thanks - there 3 or 4 of those at the back. I pretty certain the house we live in at the moment hasn't got anything like that. I am wondering if (1) 24/7 access to them has to be maintened? (2) there is no way an extension could be built over? 

They can be in various places, I have two, one is inside the porch and the other in the back garden behind the garage. It really depends where the drains are in relation to your property. 

Really it is better to have access available to them. If you do get a blocked drain it can back up and fill the chamber, which isn't pleasant ! The one in my porch has a wooden cover over it to make it level with the floor, then carpet over the top of that so I can get to it easily if needed.

Building an extension over one can cause a lot of problems !

A few weeks ago I saw a house that had a manhole cover IN the kitchen!
I couldn't believe my eyes.

Got one in my kitchen extension. A very heavy double sealed jobbie. Was perfectly acceptable when the extension was built back in the 1970s.

Ramouth

I also have one in my kitchen.  Thankfully we also have a right to use the one in next door’s garden so hopefully will never have to lift it but I still live in fear of it overflowing and am very careful about what goes down the drain just in case.  

Weathergirl_76

This is just my list of what I was avoiding when I was looking for a house,
1) any type of shared access
2) no parking 
3) anything too near a railway or depot 
4) any kind of stream/river or water course too close to the house 
5) listed buildings (i love these but my budget wouldn’t when things go wrong)
6) tall hedges which need a professional to be maintained every year 
7) anything which needs any kind of extensive renovation internally