Strange diversion of rain water pipe

[LazyDozer]

Hello great minds,
We are looking at buying a property and it’s on a hilly clay.
Looking at historic pictures it looks like about 5 years ago the rain water pipe has been diverted into the soil pipe and the one at front of house is discharging directly onto the driveway after it’s been diverted and it’s hole on the ground sealed up.
The retaining wall on the low ground seems to have moved a foot or is collapsing in parts.

Am I correct in thinking the movement of the soil towards the right of the house has resulted in the rain water pipe to the left being disconnected and someone has bodged a fix?
This would be illegal if caught by water board correct?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Probably original drainage was via a soakaway, you've already said the property is on clay soil, which doesn't soak up water very well. Rainwater disposal has to be dealt with by the most suitable solution, Soakaway is first choice, if not possible then a surface water sewer, and as a last resort, into a foul or combined sewer.

I would suspect here, the soakaways have become waterlogged, the water wasn't getting away, so the downpipes were diverted to the next suitable option. Very unlikely Water Co. will be too concerned, they'd be more bothered about a cross connected Foul into a Surface water drain.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

The jumbo plunger next to the drain tells a story! Sellers leave some daft things about sometimes, I just saw Rightmove photos of a house with a bottle of mould remover spray in the photo.

Budget to replace absolutely all underground pipework, for both sewage and rainwater. Knock this off your offer and tell them why. If they don't take it then walk away. You're the buyer, you call the shots. If you do walk away keep a check on your phone, you may get a call a few days later saying you can have it.

If they do accept your offer then great - you'll end up with all new pipework that you know will probably outlive you.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

...but also check everything else the same previous owner may have installed. If this is their standard of workmanship then you can assume everything else has been botched.

 

[LazyDozer]

Probably original drainage was via a soakaway, you've already said the property is on clay soil, which doesn't soak up water very well. Rainwater disposal has to be dealt with by the most suitable solution, Soakaway is first choice, if not possible then a surface water sewer, and as a last resort, into a foul or combined sewer.

I would suspect here, the soakaways have become waterlogged, the water wasn't getting away, so the downpipes were diverted to the next suitable option. Very unlikely Water Co. will be too concerned, they'd be more bothered about a cross connected Foul into a Surface water drain.

Thank you!! Makes a lot of sense as no manhole covers in sight except one for the toilet

 

[LazyDozer]

The jumbo plunger next to the drain tells a story! Sellers leave some daft things about sometimes, I just saw Rightmove photos of a house with a bottle of mould remover spray in the photo.

Budget to replace absolutely all underground pipework, for both sewage and rainwater. Knock this off your offer and tell them why. If they don't take it then walk away. You're the buyer, you call the shots. If you do walk away keep a check on your phone, you may get a call a few days later saying you can have it.

If they do accept your offer then great - you'll end up with all new pipework that you know will probably outlive you.

Thank you so much. Yes I was mentioning to my wife about the plunger outside the house - and you mentioned as well lol.
The estate agents claim there is a higher offer but I don’t believe it’s a simple job fitting a new soak away.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Don't get pressured by the used house salesmen/women. They may be talking the usual rubbish, or even if true there are other houses you can buy. That mug buyer may change their mind or have their mortgage refused if they're offering more than it's worth.

Decide what it's worth to you and offer that. They're obliged to forward all offers to the seller, so if they try to haggle just say that's your offer. You'll find they change their tune for the better with a buyer who isn't intimidated by them.

If your first offer doesn't embarass you then it's too high.

I offered 14% off for our house, then increased to a final take it or leave it 11% off. You're dealing with big money, a few percent is a lot of money.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

but I don’t believe it’s a simple job fitting a new soak away.

It probably wont be on clay soil, and without doing a percolation test then you have no idea what would be required, and that's if it's even possible!

 

[LazyDozer]

Don't get pressured by the used house salesmen/women. They may be talking the usual rubbish, or even if true there are other houses you can buy. That mug buyer may change their mind or have their mortgage refused if they're offering more than it's worth.

Decide what it's worth to you and offer that. They're obliged to forward all offers to the seller, so if they try to haggle just say that's your offer. You'll find they change their tune for the better with a buyer who isn't intimidated by them.

If your first offer doesn't embarass you then it's too high.

I offered 14% off for our house, then increased to a final take it or leave it 11% off. You're dealing with big money, a few percent is a lot of money.

Very good points, thank you so much!! Will wait and see how it goes.

 

[LazyDozer]

It probably wont be on clay soil, and without doing a percolation test then you have no idea what would be required, and that's if it's even possible!

Thank you, very true. I hear that over the years the clay gets too saturated and garden is too small to dig a new one.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

There are very strict rules on how far a soakaway needs to be away from yours and all other houses. If you can't meet the regulations then you have a problem. It sounds like probably the only practical solution is to pipe everything into the sewer. More modern houses have centralised separate rainwater and sewage systems, but no rainwater system exists in most of the UK.

Assuming it's all a botched mess as it appears to be, you'll probably need to replace all underground pipes, just start from scratch and ignore what's already there. The cost of DIY will be a tiny fraction of what you'd pay for someone else to do it.

You will be charged an additional "surface water" charge on your water bill for them taking it.

Your new bedtime reading...

Drainage and waste disposal: Approved Document H

Building regulation in England for foul water drainage and disposal.

www.gov.uk

It's actually very well written. You'll know more than many trades once you've read it. I had a couple of blokes quoting for me stating regulations that I knew were inaccurate or just absolute rubbish.

 

[LazyDozer]

There are very strict rules on how far a soakaway needs to be away from yours and all other houses. If you can't meet the regulations then you have a problem. It sounds like probably the only practical solution is to pipe everything into the sewer. More modern houses have centralised separate rainwater and sewage systems, but no rainwater system exists in most of the UK.

Assuming it's all a botched mess as it appears to be, you'll probably need to replace all underground pipes, just start from scratch and ignore what's already there. The cost of DIY will be a tiny fraction of what you'd pay for someone else to do it.

You will be charged an additional "surface water" charge on your water bill for them taking it.

Your new bedtime reading...

Drainage and waste disposal: Approved Document H

Building regulation in England for foul water drainage and disposal.

www.gov.uk

It's actually very well written. You'll know more than many trades once you've read it. I had a couple of blokes quoting for me stating regulations that I knew were inaccurate or just absolute rubbish.

Thank you so much. It was a brilliant read, much appreciated.