Help! Foul Sewer showing in searches of house we want to buy

charlotte_cross

Hi all,

Please can you help with this? We're so new to this and don't really understand if this will be an issue or not. You can see the pipe goes straight through the property. We aren't planning on extending as the house is pretty big, but would this deter future buyers/cause us issues in living there? We don't know the consequences of it running straight through (under) the house. Is it common? 

There is a sewage pumping station at the end of the property (not within boundaries). I've removed house numbers, street names as I'm not sure if I can upload these. Purple X is the house we're trying to buy. 

Thank you in advance! 

gm0

Not common as in "under every house".  But common as in - there is a house on many streets with one.  Where the mains are on the street.  And the gathering drain is along the back gardens.   And it crosses the line of houses at the low end (or middle).  Or with garden infill as looks likely here. Drainage arrangements are always about convenience at time of construction of a group of houses and the fall of the land

Your issues are these

1) Your reaction to finding out - is quite common. Others will feel the same - so it is a superficial barrier to sales appeal.  All houses have tradeoffs.  This is one such.  And unless plotting major developments to the rear of the building.  Buried.

2) Future build over.  Foundations and extensions over or adjacent carry extra complexity (approval) or approval and cost (diversion)

3) Confidence this is - under current legislation - all adopted and the responsibility of the local water company.  The map suggests it is.  But you want your conveyancer to be clear on this in all paperwork.  If the pumping station is external to your title and on its own plot then 4)

4) Maintenance of the plot around the pumping station may be sporadic.   Issues can arise - tree surgery, knotweed, brambles, overgrowth.  The ownership of that land around the pumping station is worth checking the title for.  If for some reason the plot thickens and the water company own the station but not the land around it - watch out.

5)  Actual problems - this is the rarest scenario.  But worth considering the broader area and map and any flood risk and fall of land. Absent actual flooding at the site - whether there is a hollow and the possibility it will all back up due to blockage/flooding elsewhere - and that area becomes a local "low point" where a foul pool appears. 

dinosaur66

town where i live in essex population 40000, huge ammount of single lane roads and nearly every house has a sewage drain manhole in the garden

storm drains in street

my neighbour has a very old bungalow and has 4 for some reason .

i have 1 a connecting one from houses at back of me in my back garden / goes under my house-

and out to a connection 100m away 2 houses down .

does not cause any issues

and you being next to a sewage pump station means yours will be very well maintained

i have never smelt it/.heard it/worried about it in 20 years

 

as you have a sewage station at the back then you will get priority to having your pipes cleaned if the unlikely case you have a blockage anywhere.

even if they say a blockage is your fault they charge £120 where i live to clear the blockage so not expensive.

koalakoala

Hmm we used to have one across a field from us, and it certainly stank some sunny days.

We now have one we pass every time we walk to the beach, and it smells bad most of the time