Manhole

timpenguin

Hi there. I am buying a property in England. The property did a rear extension and obtained the planning and building documents. However the property extension covered the manhole and there is no access to the drain. The seller has later got back the retrospective build over agreement.  I am worried about the repair issue and future resalability. Should I walk away? Thank you.

Section62

timpenguin said:

Hi there. I am buying a property in England. The property did a rear extension and obtained the planning and building documents. However the property extension covered the manhole and there is no access to the drain. The seller has later got back the retrospective build over agreement.  I am worried about the repair issue and future resalability. Should I walk away? Thank you.

What does the buildover agreement say about liability (if anything) ?

housebuyer143

I bought a house with a manhole in the kitchen exactly as you describe and it blocked and we had to dig up the floor and it was not good. 
Honestly, walk away from it. If it blocks up you might need to dig it up and it will ruin your floor and then you will have to work around having a manhole in your room. Personally I wouldn't ever do that again. 

Bookworm105

unless you are a total innocent to the world of property owning, and therefore afraid of your own shadow, ask yourself how often has there been a problem with that drain?

you have confirmed they have the relevant paperwork. If there is a future issue then educate yourself on what would be needed to open up the floor and access the cover if ever necessary 

Presumably it is a drain that serves only that house, so blockages are entirely within your own control as to what you flush down the loo. Rather unlikely to suffer an actual collapse of the drain itself if the build over was done to the relevant paperwork standards and signed off by building control.

Section62

Bookworm105 said:

unless you are a total innocent to the world of property owning, and therefore afraid of your own shadow, ask yourself how often has there been a problem with that drain?

If drains never had problems then companies wouldn't be able to sell drainage insurance cover, and we'd also have a lot fewer drainage engineers.

The critical bit for the OP is what the buildover agreement says if something goes wrong.  What would they be on the hook for?

Presumably it is a drain that serves only that house, so blockages are entirely within your own control as to what you flush down the loo. Rather unlikely to suffer an actual collapse of the drain itself if the build over was done to the relevant paperwork standards and signed off by building control.

If it only serves the one house then there's a ~99% certainty it wouldn't be a public sewer, and therefore no buildover agreement would have been needed.

As there is a buildover agreement the pipe is a public sewer, which means except in some very unusual circumstances there will be at least two properties connected to it.  Blockages can be caused by various things, not just inappropriate items being flushed.  Fat is another common cause of blockages.  If the sewer is liable to surcharging then 'stuff' backflowing up the pipe (including into people's private connections) is also a common cause.

Herzlos

Bookworm105 said:

unless you are a total innocent to the world of property owning, and therefore afraid of your own shadow, ask yourself how often has there been a problem with that drain?

You need to factor in how likely it is to be needed vs how much hassle it'll be if it is needed. If it's just a case of ripping up some lino/laminate for an hour then it's a totally different problem to say a poured concrete floor where it could take a day with a jackhammer to even get access. It'll also make a difference exactly where it is and what it'll obstruct. Again a corner of a sunroom isn't likely to be a big deal but right in front of the oven could mean a week without cooking.

FreeBear

Bookworm105 said:

unless you are a total innocent to the world of property owning, and therefore afraid of your own shadow, ask yourself how often has there been a problem with that drain?

As the owner of a property with a drain looping back on its self under the kitchen floor, I can tell you how many times it has had problems. In the 50 odd years, three times, all withing the space of a few months. Main cause was a lodger that would flush handfuls of toilet paper down the loo (he'd get through a roll or two a day ). Fortunately, there is a manhole cover (double sealed) that can be lifted. After rodding out the drain, I found a snot of mortar on the inlet side that was catching toilet paper as it passed by. Chiselled away the mortar slot and got rid of the lodger - No more problems.

TroubledTarts

Reduce your offer for the property for what it may cost you to get to this manhole and keep it in an interest bearing account for "just that event"

Or just accept it.

Properties cost money to maintain you always need a slush fund.

AskAsk

TroubledTarts said:

Reduce your offer for the property for what it may cost you to get to this manhole and keep it in an interest bearing account for "just that event"

Or just accept it.

Properties cost money to maintain you always need a slush fund.

Reduce the offer to fund this "slush fund".  I think this is the best idea if it can be shown that there has been no historic issues.

martindow

I think it depends on the layout of the drain and inspection covers.  If it's a shared drain and there are drain covers either side, access from them should be possible to clear any blockage.  The upstream neighbours at least are not going to be difficult allowing access.  If there is a strangely routed drain and neighbours have also blocked access to other inspection covers it could be much more complicated.

Bookworm105

FreeBear said:

Bookworm105 said:

unless you are a total innocent to the world of property owning, and therefore afraid of your own shadow, ask yourself how often has there been a problem with that drain?

As the owner of a property with a drain looping back on its self under the kitchen floor, I can tell you how many times it has had problems. In the 50 odd years, three times, all withing the space of a few months. Main cause was a lodger that would flush handfuls of toilet paper down the loo (he'd get through a roll or two a day ). Fortunately, there is a manhole cover (double sealed) that can be lifted. After rodding out the drain, I found a snot of mortar on the inlet side that was catching toilet paper as it passed by. Chiselled away the mortar slot and got rid of the lodger - No more problems.

50 years and an identified cause... rather my point.