Private Water Supply & Santander Mortgage

deepdown

I am buying a house with a private water supply, porting my mortgage with Santander directly.

My solicitor is on annual leave this week and I was looking for advice on something which is urgent in terms of scheduling a report as we are looking for a quick move.

My mortgage offer says 'the property is believed to be connected to a private water supply. A specialist report SHOULD be obtained to confirm that it complies with statutory regulations for safe drinking water'

Then further in it says 'The reliability of the supply MUST also be confirmed prior to funds release'

My solicitor has told me previously that a report is only 'advised'. So who confirms the reliability of the supply to Santander before the funds are released if I do not need a specialist report? Is the confirmation of the current owners that it has never ran dry, enough? Does the solicitor tell Santander or will we get to exchange and they ask me for the report?

Thank you for any thoughts!

ACG

I did a mortgage with a borehole last month... First one in 13 years!
I found that lenders generally were in 2 camps - its fine (subject to valuers comments) or its 100% not. 

The fact that they are open to it, I imagine will mean they are ok with it. But it might get referred back to the valuer or if a desktop, they may want a physical valuation. It should all be dealt with prior to exchange though. 

deepdown

Thank you so much for the reply. They have already done a physical valuation and approved the mortgage. These were additional notes on the offer. So I'm confused about what they actually want from me, I could ask them but also wary of opening a can of worms...

jimjames

deepdown said:

Thank you so much for the reply. They have already done a physical valuation and approved the mortgage. These were additional notes on the offer. So I'm confused about what they actually want from me, I could ask them but also wary of opening a can of worms...

I suspect they will want a lab report showing that the water meets the regulations. Probably worth investigating costs of the analysis so you are prepared. Example, there are many others available
https://www.north-norfolk.gov.uk/tasks/private-water-supplies/request-private-water-supply-check/