Would you buy a house built over a public sewer?

Would you buy a house built over a public sewer?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1
Joined
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Hi all. Out of interest, would you buy a house that was built over a public sewer if the water company advised that the risk of having to access the pipe through the house was HIGHLY unlikely and that there'd been no flooding on record in the last 6 years at least (possibly ever) and if the seller could provide you with indemnity insurance to cover you IF works ever were needed.

Its the actual house built over it 100yrs ago just for context and the sewer serves 10 terraced houses.

Trying to figure out how much it'd potentially put future buyers off.
 
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Flooding caused by the sewer being unable to cope with normal ( but annually increasing ) flow is not the same as flooding cause by a collapse of the sewer or other blockage in the sewer down stream from the property being considered.
 
Flooding caused by the sewer being unable to cope with normal ( but annually increasing ) flow is not the same as flooding cause by a collapse of the sewer or other blockage in the sewer down stream from the property being considered.
Thank you for your view! So it would put you off?
 
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Thank you for your view! So it would put you off?
It would definitely concern me. Things change with time.

We bought land next to a stream in 1979 to build our house. It was considered to be at risk of flooding from surface water only once in 100 years.

We had three floods in the first 10 years, The reason for this was new housing estates built in the 1970's drained surface water directly to the stream, heavy rain meant flash floods. Fortunately the water did not reach the floor.

The land is now considered to be high flood risk.

A similar thing happened when sewage from new builds overloaded the village sewage pumping station, Backed up sewage was coming out of the sewers and flooding three properties.
 
Far too many variables to make an informed decision,

My extensions built on a drain pipe that serves 5 houses it runs diagnolly across it, in the worst case it could be rerouted around the outside of absolutely necessary.

Does the sewer run along the terrace under all 10 houses or front to back under the 1 House?
 
Far too many variables to make an informed decision,

My extensions built on a drain pipe that serves 5 houses it runs diagnolly across it, in the worst case it could be rerouted around the outside of absolutely necessary.

Does the sewer run along the terrace under all 10 houses or front to back under the 1 House?
It runs along all 10 gardens and then down to the road under my house
 
A similar thing happened when sewage from new builds overloaded the village sewage pumping station, Backed up sewage was coming out of the sewers and flooding three properties.

Dry weather flow wouldn't overwhelm a pump station, the discharge from the development would be taken into account when Planning was granted, you'd need to add an awful lot of homes to put pressure on the system. The problem arises during wet weather, when the extra flow from older properties on a combined sewer coupled with Folks putting wipes and other rubbish down the toilet, and the system cannot cope.

It runs along all 10 gardens and then down to the road under my house

How big is the pipe, and has it been surveyed lately to ascertain it's condition?
 
Dry weather flow wouldn't overwhelm a pump station, the discharge from the development would be taken into account when Planning was granted, you'd need to add an awful lot of homes to put pressure on the system. The problem arises during wet weather, when the extra flow from older properties on a combined sewer coupled with Folks putting wipes and other rubbish down the toilet, and the system cannot cope.



How big is the pipe, and has it been surveyed lately to ascertain it's condition?
Great username! It's 150mm and no, not as far as I'm aware.
 
If Thames Water have confirmed that it's theirs then why worry - if they can build a 25km tunnel under London I'm sure they could fix a 6 inch pipe without too much trouble.
 
Might be an idea to ask for a survey of the pipe before purchase.

I assume the water co would cover the cost of any repair works and returning to original state if required as its a public sewer.
 
Dry weather flow wouldn't overwhelm a pump station,
In the case in question the pumps ceased pumping and the telemetry failed to notify the control room. Tankers were sent after phone calls from people being flooded. Wipes and other rubbish down the toilet resulted in another minor flood of raw sewage,
 
In the case in question the pumps ceased pumping and the telemetry failed to notify the control room. Tankers were sent after phone calls from people being flooded. Wipes and other rubbish down the toilet resulted in another minor flood of raw sewage.

Then it wasn't as a result of the New Builds.... Pumps and pipework jam/block up with rag, and the system fails. Yes, the Telemetry should have alerted there was an issue, but even that isn't failsafe unfortunately.

Great username! It's 150mm and no, not as far as I'm aware.

Have to try and retain some sense of humour.... I'd get a CCTV survey done and a report as to the pipe's condition. Ultimately it's down to the Water Company to maintain, my biggest fear would be should there be a problem, what risk is there of the property getting flooded with sewage? Otherwise, in the event of a collapse, there are ways of getting a new pipe in, directional drilling is one option, thats if the existing pipe cannot be salvaged and either lined or a new pipe dragged through.
 

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