The public sewer map show public sewer within the boundary of the property

vwpbbb

Hello All, 

I am buying a 3 bed semi-detached house and have received the drainage and water search report from the conveyancing solicitor provided by Search Flow. 

 

The solicitor cover letter that was sent with the search report mentions this statement 'The plans held by the Water Authority show a public sewer within the boundary of the property. Therefore, access may be required at any time by the Water Authority to carry out works to their property. This may also prohibit any extensions you wish to build at the property if it is to be built over the sewer.' I also attached the extracts and pictures of plan from the search report. The search report smart colour coding shows this as red (attention).

- Is this an issue/concern for now/future - say if I want to do rear extension in the future. Current owner has only done a very small rear kitchen extension which can also be seen in the plan picture. Based on the pictures of plan is it likely to cause issue in future for extension.

- How do I find out any further information on this as to how this will affect in future. Will the conveyancing solicitors help me find out more information or do I have to do this myself?

- Will the seller provide any more information/issue on this?

- I have appointed a Surveyor to do level 3 Building survey for the property to be done in 2 weeks time, will the Surveyor check this issue as part of the Survey if I ask them and send them these details. Or will this be an additional work for them that they will charge additional. 

As always, I will appreciate your valuable suggestions and please share your experience if  you have come accross similar situation.

Many thanks.

theartfullodger

Had a big sewer going under a house we owed years ago.  Never an issue.  More pleasant than some of the neighbours.

Bookworm105

as your solicitor says, if you extend on the back at a future date you are legally required to get a "build over agreement" from water authority
if you then sell ion the future, your buyer would check that you have such documentation

whether the water authority permits you to literally build over the drainage, or actually requires you to pay to have it realigned to completely avoid the extension, depends on the precise details at the time of the application   

read up about build over agreement for more info. 

ThisIsWeird

This is very common.
Any sewer that isn't solely yours is effectively 'public'. I understand that also means that it's the responsibility of the Water Board. 
We have one out t'back, and thought it ran further out in the garden. When we put in for Build Regs for an extension, the WB picked up on the fact it would be built over, and sent us the required info. This required us to have a CCTV inspection of the pipe to ensure it was in good order (cost just over £100), and to agree to follow the WB's build-over arrangement, which the builder did and photographed. Really no issue.
Problems can occur if there's an inspection chamber in the way of any extension - is there? And also if the drain is found to be in poor order - I'm not sure what could happen then, as it's the WB's responsibility, but they may not consider it urgent, whilst not good enough to build over!
In general, tho', this setup is very common, and usually not an issue.

vwpbbb

ThisIsWeird said:

This is very common.
Any sewer that isn't solely yours is effectively 'public'. I understand that also means that it's the responsibility of the Water Board. 
We have one out t'back, and thought it ran further out in the garden. When we put in for Build Regs for an extension, the WB picked up on the fact it would be built over, and sent us the required info. This required us to have a CCTV inspection of the pipe to ensure it was in good order (cost just over £100), and to agree to follow the WB's build-over arrangement, which the builder did and photographed. Really no issue.
Problems can occur if there's an inspection chamber in the way of any extension - is there? And also if the drain is found to be in poor order - I'm not sure what could happen then, as it's the WB's responsibility, but they may not consider it urgent, whilst not good enough to build over!
In general, tho', this setup is very common, and usually not an issue.

Many thanks for the information. How to find out if there is inspection chamber?

Bookworm105

vwpbbb said:

ThisIsWeird said:

This is very common.
Any sewer that isn't solely yours is effectively 'public'. I understand that also means that it's the responsibility of the Water Board. 
We have one out t'back, and thought it ran further out in the garden. When we put in for Build Regs for an extension, the WB picked up on the fact it would be built over, and sent us the required info. This required us to have a CCTV inspection of the pipe to ensure it was in good order (cost just over £100), and to agree to follow the WB's build-over arrangement, which the builder did and photographed. Really no issue.
Problems can occur if there's an inspection chamber in the way of any extension - is there? And also if the drain is found to be in poor order - I'm not sure what could happen then, as it's the WB's responsibility, but they may not consider it urgent, whilst not good enough to build over!
In general, tho', this setup is very common, and usually not an issue.

Many thanks for the information. How to find out if there is inspection chamber?

you look for one 

Eldi_Dos

vwpbbb said:

ThisIsWeird said:

This is very common.
Any sewer that isn't solely yours is effectively 'public'. I understand that also means that it's the responsibility of the Water Board. 
We have one out t'back, and thought it ran further out in the garden. When we put in for Build Regs for an extension, the WB picked up on the fact it would be built over, and sent us the required info. This required us to have a CCTV inspection of the pipe to ensure it was in good order (cost just over £100), and to agree to follow the WB's build-over arrangement, which the builder did and photographed. Really no issue.
Problems can occur if there's an inspection chamber in the way of any extension - is there? And also if the drain is found to be in poor order - I'm not sure what could happen then, as it's the WB's responsibility, but they may not consider it urgent, whilst not good enough to build over!
In general, tho', this setup is very common, and usually not an issue.

Many thanks for the information. How to find out if there is inspection chamber?

They are not always apparent to the naked eye, if the issue is concerning you it would be worth getting CCTV report for piece of mind