Advice needed for inspection chamber/access cover

[Minkyman]

Hello, hope this is the right place.

We are selling our house and the buyers solicitor is kicking up a fuss about an inspection chamber/access chamber not sure what it is which is the problem.

It’s a small chamber which is about a foot and a half from the house and has what seems like coax/triaxial cable 10mm diameter max coming in being spliced and returning back under the house. It doesn’t seem to be used and is in poor condition, resin splice cover is split and cable is kinked/over moved(I believe the outer sleeving is damaged but it’s underwater) at the end of the plastic cover coming out of the side but we have no clue what it is and it’s causing problems. House was built in the 60s so presumably it was put in At the same time.

And help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I should note the kitchen is behind the wall and the electrics/phone/gas/virgin cable all enter the house at the other side of our house. Nothing inside the house to indicate this kind of cable comes in anywhere.

Images attached

 

[foxhole]

Is cover marked cat5? Will be cable from local cable suppliers Virgin? Or Sky?

 

[Minkyman]

The cover is unmarked. There is absolutely no indication of what it is. Suggestions have been cabling for a sump pump but we are not near an area with flooding or have a basement or swimming pool.

 

[foxhole]

Looks like coax , unused and rotten, what’s he problem?

 

[Minkyman]

The buyer presumably wants to build an extension and their solicitor is worried if he builds over this it will cause a problem. We’re trying to establish what it is so we can alleviate their worries so they don’t pull out of the purchase. We’ve tried pointing out that condition of the wire and the odds are its not in use but solicitors are now rediculus in their checking of things. We naught the house 4 years ago and didn’t have any fuss over all these things.


Had I known I’dve probably just pulled the rings out and filled the damn thing in. They would have happily filled over the damn thing and problem solved.

 

[magicmushroom666]

Looks like they went to a fair bit of trouble building that concrete structure nicely to house that junction, I'd say it was some change to the Virgin media installation perhaps when the place was built to get the house where they wanted?

 

[mattylad]

When have VM ever made things like that? They just bury their cables in the ground and junction in the boxes on the wall.

Thats too good to be vm, sky etc.

 

[Minkyman]

I would think the cable pre-dates sky or virgin as the house was build in the 60s and as shown the cable goes in and comes out from the direction of the house wall? Would seem stupid to stick a 90 degree bend in let alone have to dig up the garden along the house wall/foundations. Best assertion would be old phone cable that was abandoned but like I’ve said, completely stumped as to what it is.

 

[AlanE]

Just a thought but who has owned the house in the past (IE was it always a private dwelling or has it been owned by any utility company or near a current, or disused, fire station)? Based on that I could come up with a suggestion.

 

[Minkyman]

Originally London overflow purpose built social housing. No fire station nearby as far as I’m aware. It’s now a moot point as the buyer has dropped out was due to exchange this week put forward it would cost £8k-15k to build over this and he buy it if I dropped that price.

 

[endecotp]

Do neighbouring properties have similar things?

Is it anywhere near the route of your drains? (Do you know where the drains go?)

Any markings on the chamber lid?

I might be tempted to excavate and see where it goes, into the house or elsewhere.

(One interesting kind of redundant wiring is Redifisuion, an early "cable radio" and later TV system. I don't see anything in your pics that immediately make me thing that's it, but you never know.)

 

[Nige F]

Originally London overflow purpose built social housing. .

Most likely Rediffusion , as suggested. Show me a social house without a sky dish nowadays