Bought house, found damaged drains

dutchcloggie

Hello,

My friend has recently bought a house. The garden path was covered with gravel. She swept it away as she didn't like it, and found a hole in the concrete underneath with clear signs of damaged drains. It seems that the gravel was put down to cover this damage up, but if course this can't be proven.

Either way, a drain survey showed multiple holes in the drains both close to the house and further down the garden. She obviously wants this fixed asap, especially the issues close to the house.

Question: is this usually covered by standard home insurance? It isn't accidental damage...

Woodstok2000

If it's wear and tear then insurance isn't going to cover it.

dutchcloggie

Darn. Maybe I can accidentally damage the drain with a little digger ...

user1977

And no matter the cause, insurance is not going to cover damage existing before she bought the house.

ExEstateAgent

Bit like asking if you buy a crashed car, will your insurer pay for it to be repaired?

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82035082#Comment_82035082

That would be fraud.

Bigphil1474

OP, worth checking who is responsible for the drains. It's not always the homeowner. We had drains in our front and back garden in the old house which were the responsibility of the water board. The front ones were for the gutter waste pipe and it collapsed around 2008 and caused subsidence to the front of our house. Water board fixed the pipes, insurance covered the subsidence. Our rear drains were for waste from the house and shared with about 6 houses. All water board responsibility.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82035170#Comment_82035170

And fairly easy to detect as recent damage and historic damage look different. (if the insurer looks at the evidence)

dutchcloggie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82035360#Comment_82035360

Well it was a joke... Obviously....

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82035418#Comment_82035418

Sometimes you can never be sure on this forum…

Grumpy_chap

Is it waste water drain or surface water drain, or both?

Is the drain shared with any other property?