Public Foul Sewer

DonPatch · 25 June 2018 at 1:00PM

Hi

My drainage search has just come back and said that the there is a Public Foul Sewer within the property boundary. From the rough map they provided, it looks to be in the garden. Dont know how far from the house. I didn't notice, but then admittedly I barely looked at the garden.

I don't think this is an issue for me, I understand that water company may need access and if I want an extension I would have to seek permission which may or may not be granted.

So I think all fine. Or am I missing something and are there any questions I should ask the seller about this and should I go take a look (though I don't know what I'd be looking for, just sort of seeing where it is!)

Thanks in advance

purple45 · 25 June 2018 at 1:10PM

Ours is a rectangular man hole cover at the bottom of the garden. The whole row of terraced houses drainage runs through it. For about 15 years I never even thought about it but then the house at the bottom of the garden was suffering some water damage and last summer the water board were in and out of our garden more than we were which was a bit off putting because they were hauling cables etc through the sewage pipes, re-lining them and checking for leaks. Didn't really feel like gardening with that going on! However it was all fixed and they were very nice and there wasn't any nasty stink! haha! Probably advisable to know where it is but hasn't been an issue for me.

Doozergirl · 25 June 2018 at 1:34PM

It's not a rough map, it should be to scale so you can measure how far it is and there is also a key to show you how big the diameter of the pipe is.

You are right about the responsibilities that come with it. Build over agreements for extensions aren't usually an issue for smaller pupes but they may not give permission for a extrnsions too near to larger ones, so it's worth looking to see how far it is from the house.

Have a look out for manholes along the line the map shows as the maps can sometimes be inaccurate.

DonPatch · 25 June 2018 at 2:24PM

Thank you both.

Then this looks to be within 10 feet of the house but the house has been extended by 8 foot for the last 15 years so don't know how old the plan is.
There is no key to show diameter of the pipe only a colour key to show what sort of sewer.

Does any of that matter?

Doozergirl · 25 June 2018 at 2:38PM

How did you measure it to scale up to get the answer in feet?

The map will show the outline of the house. You can work out if it's been extended or not by the size of the house conpared to now.

What does the colour key show?

Does it matter? It depends on what kind of sewer it is, really and future plans for the house. Since 2011, many/most of us are near the public sewer since they adopted shared drains. If you're 10 foot from a massive one, you might have a different opinion to if it's just sharing you and a few neighbour's waste.

It's also nice to know where the drains from your house go, whether there's plenty of rodding access and if they're currently clear and in good condition.

Ithaca · 25 June 2018 at 2:42PM

There are different types of public sewer. We have a small shared sewer running along the back of the house - we needed build-over (or rather "build-near-to") permission which was easy to get. There is a much larger sewer (225mm) that runs at the bottom of the garden which would have been a lot more difficult to obtain build over permission for.

DonPatch · 25 June 2018 at 2:50PM

It has a picture of the rectangle plot with a line pointing in the left hand side boundary just below half way up the plot.

So I know the bank garden is approx 75 foot, front garden about 15 foot and the house is 36 foot long. So I worked that to be no more than 10 foot away!

It had 5 colours on the key each relating to different public sewers and the brown coloured line shown to the property relates to Public Foul Sewer.

DonPatch · 25 June 2018 at 3:13PM

Oh Ive just seen what you mean Doozer. Apologies. The sewer runs across this property and two neighbouring properties.

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Public Foul Sewer

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