We recently bought a new property in London, a typical Victorian house where the rear part used to be 2/3 wide but has been extended to go to the border of the property.
After all was complete we discovered that there is a covered manhole within the extended area. It is in fact under the kitchen cabinets, so in case of emergency would not be accessible without major damage. This causes major worries for us.
This issue was not highlighted in the survey which surprised me as the survey (a Level 3 full home survey) was otherwise most thorough and detailed.
I am not aware of any build-over agreement but build control and certificate had been obtained for the extension which was build in 1995.
As part of the purchase there was an indemnity insurance. Originally that was requested because of a window that hasn't had conservation area approval, but it is formulated in a very general way.
The attached map is from the water survey. The green dots I added where my manhole is, and where I can see the neighbor's. My assumption is that the sewer is running parallel to the terraces and road and every house has a manhole in the small part that originally was not overbuilt.
I would very much like to have the views of the esteemed expertise in this audience about this situation.
1. Could I expect an indemnity insurance to pay for rectification of this issue? The insurance was obtained at a time when no-one was aware of this issue so it was in good faith.
2. In 1995, would it have been permitted to have a built-over manhole at the time? I can only assume that the kitchen wasn't in place at the time of inspection.
3. I suppose rerouting the sewer is out of the question considering that it is probably running under the whole width of the house. Correct?
4. What are my options to fix this? The only one I can think of is to change a number of kitchen cabinets so that the manhole is at least accessible in case of emergencies. But that's very disruptive and takes away good use of the kitchen.
5. Would it be advisable to inform Thames Water and seek their views?
6. I have read that in such a situation Thames Water would have the right to access even if that involved major damage to the house. Is that correct?
I appreciate that some of these might be very detailed but I am glad for any suggestions and hints.
Thank you very much!
After all was complete we discovered that there is a covered manhole within the extended area. It is in fact under the kitchen cabinets, so in case of emergency would not be accessible without major damage. This causes major worries for us.
This issue was not highlighted in the survey which surprised me as the survey (a Level 3 full home survey) was otherwise most thorough and detailed.
I am not aware of any build-over agreement but build control and certificate had been obtained for the extension which was build in 1995.
As part of the purchase there was an indemnity insurance. Originally that was requested because of a window that hasn't had conservation area approval, but it is formulated in a very general way.
The attached map is from the water survey. The green dots I added where my manhole is, and where I can see the neighbor's. My assumption is that the sewer is running parallel to the terraces and road and every house has a manhole in the small part that originally was not overbuilt.
I would very much like to have the views of the esteemed expertise in this audience about this situation.
1. Could I expect an indemnity insurance to pay for rectification of this issue? The insurance was obtained at a time when no-one was aware of this issue so it was in good faith.
2. In 1995, would it have been permitted to have a built-over manhole at the time? I can only assume that the kitchen wasn't in place at the time of inspection.
3. I suppose rerouting the sewer is out of the question considering that it is probably running under the whole width of the house. Correct?
4. What are my options to fix this? The only one I can think of is to change a number of kitchen cabinets so that the manhole is at least accessible in case of emergencies. But that's very disruptive and takes away good use of the kitchen.
5. Would it be advisable to inform Thames Water and seek their views?
6. I have read that in such a situation Thames Water would have the right to access even if that involved major damage to the house. Is that correct?
I appreciate that some of these might be very detailed but I am glad for any suggestions and hints.
Thank you very much!