No Manhole at property

Top11

Im buying a mid terraced house, there is no manhole at the front, or at the rear of property.
There is a small rear extension at the back of house, one concern of mine is they may have covered the manhole under the extension.  there is no building regs or approval for this extension, as sellers say it was built over 14 years ago before they even owned it.

on the searches its revealed the neighbour has a manhole at the back, but my other neighbour has no manhole.   what should i do, what if there is a blockage or something after my purchase?

FreeBear

With the neighbour's consent, get a CCTV survey done. That should reveal if a manhole cover & chamber exists under the extension.

35har1old

Top11 said:

Im buying a mid terraced house, there is no manhole at the front, or at the rear of property.
There is a small rear extension at the back of house, one concern of mine is they may have covered the manhole under the extension.  there is no building regs or approval for this extension, as sellers say it was built over 14 years ago before they even owned it.

on the searches its revealed the neighbour has a manhole at the back, but my other neighbour has no manhole.   what should i do, what if there is a blockage or something after my purchase?

As the sewer has worked 14 years why should it decide to block now unless you our a neighbour puts inappropriate items down it.
Having a manhole is no guarantee that a blockage would be able to be cleared if it was down to a pipe collapse.
Best to get a camera survey done on the whole sewer from manhole to manhole to spot any problems 

Bookworm105

obviously you need a drainage survey to establish what goes where 

Top11

So where does the cctv get checked from? This house I'm buying has no manhole, does it need to be checked from neighbours manhole..?

What if neighbour does not agree.. 

stuart45

Top11 said:

So where does the cctv get checked from? This house I'm buying has no manhole, does it need to be checked from neighbours manhole..?

What if neighbour does not agree.. 

If the neighbours won't agree, there's not much you can do until you own it. I doubt if the present owners will allow their drain to be drilled into for a survey.

Bookworm105

Top11 said:

So where does the cctv get checked from? This house I'm buying has no manhole, does it need to be checked from neighbours manhole..?

What if neighbour does not agree.. 

go and buy yourself an endoscope attachment for a laptop or phone and look for yourself down the sink plughole and/or toilet bowl

Plenty of options on the usual selling sites 

FreeBear

Bookworm105 said:

Top11 said:

So where does the cctv get checked from? This house I'm buying has no manhole, does it need to be checked from neighbours manhole..?

What if neighbour does not agree.. 

go and buy yourself an endoscope attachment for a laptop or phone and look for yourself down the sink plughole and/or toilet bowl

Plenty of options on the usual selling sites 

Most of those cheap endoscopes are only available with up to 10m of cable. Picture quality is also pretty poor - Have one myself, and it doesn't get much use. The light is next to useless (and that is being polite). To be honest, the money would be better spent on a proper CCTV survey.

Top11

Who should be paying for survey me or the seller?

bobster2

Top11 said:

Who should be paying for survey me or the seller?

You - the buyer

Bookworm105

Top11 said:

Who should be paying for survey me or the seller?

you are the one concerned over the issue so it is down to you to seek reassurance in the form of a survey you pay for yourself. You can then make an informed decision whether to drop out of buying this property.

Of course you can try and negotiate with the seller but frankly I would expect them to move on to the next purchaser and cut you adrift. They have lived in the house and know that the drains are not that big an issue.