House purchase, sewer under house

[Akwoody2402]

Does anybody have any experience or knowledge on both house purchasing and development where the house sits slap bang on top of a main public sewer. I am referring to a sewer which appears to be fed by most of the village c.100+ houses which runs down through the entire village. Just got the searches back and was shocked to see it. My surveyer says it is strange and never seen that before
Anyone built over or near to a main sewer line
Anyone had any blockage or subsidence issues due to this scenario
We are close to exchange and this as potentially scuppered plans

 

[flying haggis]

sounds odd to me, when I built I had to be a minimum distance from the sewer. Might be worth getting the relevant water company involved to confirm or deny

 

[Akwoody2402]

I’ve spoken to them, although the lady didn’t seem that clued up. She confirmed it was in fact there but couldn’t give any more information like the size and depth of it. Their website suggests if the pipe if wider than 9 inches they wouldn’t allow development.

Even if you could develop, would you worry about the slim chance the sewer leaks under your house and causes subsidence ?

 

[Woodchips2]

I think this is one for your solicitor to advise on quickly. I would be concerned about the liability if the sewer leaked and my insurance company denied any responsibility to pay for repairs.
Regards Keith

 

[Jacob]

My mums house had next door build over her main drain but it had to be done to an approved spec and they had legal obligations to not obstruct it.
We've got a drain going off under next doors land but not built on.
So it's not uncommon for small drains at least so your solicitor need to look closely at the law and your obligations.

 

[tony_s]

Wonder why the present occupant is selling.....

 

[RogerS]

You might be happy to go ahead but when you come to sell, your purchaser might not be. Bottom line...what is the risk of something going wrong and how much to put right. You can get Indemnity Insurance for these sorts of things...get the vendor to pay the premium.

 

[Noel]

Get on your feet and get out of the sale and count your lucky stars. If you were told at a much earlier stage would you have still continued? I would hope not , or at least I certainly wouldn't have. Risks? As you say failure of the pipe may indeed lead to subsidence but the possible hum from such a situation could make the property uninhabitable, not to mention the health hazards or the fire risk. None of the above may ever happen but as said, it would be difficult to sell the house on in the future.

 

[Akwoody2402]

I believe it’s a couple who are splitting up, been there 2 years. At least that’s what I have been told.

I forgot to mention, I had the building surveyed and there is a minor crack in the front brick wall of the house , perhaps 1.5feet long. Surveyer recommended a camera inspection of drains.

My issue is, even if I get them inspected and they are fine now, the sewer could have issues in the future and I wouldn’t know about it until half the earth under the house has softened and moved. Probably a 0.001 % chance of happening it’s quite frustrating.

I intend to speak to a planning officer and the water company again on Monday try and find out size and depth of the pipe and possible planning issues. Also if anybody has made enquiries before with the water company

If this was a smaller sewer being fed by say 5 houses I wouldn’t be worried as much, but it’s the whole bleeding village

 

[Akwoody2402]

Tell me I’m being daft but that’s a main public sewer

 

[Jacob]

Have a look at the manholes marked, they might have re-routed it before the house was built. Though they could have turned it right from the upstream manhole to join the sewer in the road at the T junction, but the manholes might still be in the original positions.
Basically needs a good look, legally and on the ground.

 

[n0legs]

I'll give you some really good advice,
DO NOT TRUST ANY DRAWINGS FROM WELSH WATER

I've worked alongside all the utilities and out of the lot they're the worst.
Get out and have a look ( and lift them up) for manhole covers.
I'm pretty confident in saying, that if that really is the route there would be covers on either side of the house for access.
We use a CAT and Sonde on drain rods to prove routes of drainage and ducts. See if you can hire one.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Do not ... ?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Even if there are no problems uncovered it'll put off buyers in the future - it could cost you dearly.

 

[n0legs]

Do not ... ?

Got a bit excited I did Phil :lol:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Too much rugby.

 

[RogerS]

I'll give you some really good advice,
DO NOT TRUST ANY DRAWINGS FROM WELSH WATER

....

LOL...tell me about it. They had our last place located as a water trough in the middle of a field and not a house. When we used to ring up if there was a problem, they'd deny all knowledge of us. "Are you sure you're with Welsh Water...you're miles away in Worcestershire ?". To which we would reply "Well, we've got a water bill. There's English on one side and some sort of gobbledegook on the other "

 

[MARK.B.]

It will cost the same to repair if you have 5 or 100 using it. imho steer well clear, look at the damage and disruption that a sewage leak outside causes and then imagine them ripping up your nice floors ,oh and when /if they fix it, everything will need sanitised to various degrees .Worst bit is like every leak repair you know that its odds on that it could leak again and if it does you may not find your insurance company willing to pay out ,that is if they pay out in the first instance because unless you tell them there is a main sewer running under the house when you take out a policy they will use your oversight in not telling them as a reason not to pay your claim.

 

[Just4Fun]

You can get Indemnity Insurance for these sorts of things...get the vendor to pay the premium.

For how long?
I would rather negotiate a substantial discount - offer say 50% off the price - but even if they accepted I think it would be better to walk away. Sewer under the house, crack in the wall ... not a promising situation.
I would be curious how the sellers financed their original purchase of the house. I would have thought their building society would have got cold feet if they knew about the issue. Or did the sellers not even know about it?

 

[Akwoody2402]

They paid 265 k 3 years ago, I’m now paying 282k. So they either weren’t aware or didn’t think it was an issue. Strangely my solicitor had no comment on it either, I’ll be speaking to them Monday morning and a planning officer from the council. Either way though I’m not sure I could live with the worry , especially as we weee planning on sinking a lot of money into the house extension and re jigging walls etc. I’d feel a right idiot if I went ahead and there was an issue at some point