To reduce our house offer because of undisclosed sewage pumping station in the garden

[CheesyGhost]

We have today discovered through our solicitors that the house we have agreed to buy at full asking price has a significant chunk missing out of the middle of the garden which wouldn't legally belong to us as a sewage pumping station is underground there, and a long stretch of the property, although legally our property, requires right of access for the sewage company at a width of 3 meters. The timber garage has been built on this despite the deeds clearly stating that the access cannot be blocked. When challenged, the vendor has said that the sewage company only actually need one meter of access to check the pump monthly and it has never been a problem in the 7 years they have lived there which is why they built the garage where it is. We are hoping that this will be our forever home so I'm sure that at some point in the next 50 years, the sewage company are going to want their full 3 meters to deal with any significant issues.
We are very annoyed that this was not disclosed prior to this point and the estate agent claims that they did not know about it either though the vendor clearly did.
In all honesty, we were planning to rip down the garage and rebuild it anyway but now we know this, we will look to rebuild elsewhere in the garden so we could keep the access free in the long term. Even with the chunk missing, it is a very good sized garden as we can't see this being a problem as such and although not ideal to have the pumping station essentially in our garden, that's not a huge issue either for our day to day living from what we can currently assess.
But we are angry that what was advertised is not what we are buying and would like to renegotiate our offer. Are we being unreasonable in asking for a £5000 reduction which would cover the rebuild of the timber garage at least? I know we were going to do it anyway for our own taste but there is almost 6m² of garden missing compared to what was advertised.

Wow, that is a big thing not to disclose. It's a big drawback. I can understand why they wouldn't want to disclose it because it is very offputting. Which means that ,yes, you certainly should have a discount at the least.

No way in the world would I buy a house where there was a sewage pumping station on my property. No way.

I say this as someone who worked for years for a global environmental engineering firm - not one of the engineers I worked for would have bought a property like this.

Get out and find another house.

This is probably a stupid question if you’ve actually seen the property but does that mean you cannot fence off the garden for kids or dogs?
Presumably they need access regardless of you being there?

I really wouldn't worry about being unreasonable at this point - that's a huge omission on their part and I think a lot of people would be pissed off and pull out of the sale completely.

Absolutely pull out

You’ve got all your legs to stand on here. They’ve been deceitful. Drop your offer by a substantial amount. At least enough to pay for the shed to be (dismantled and) moved and the inconvenience of the access.

Pull out!!

Seriously it's nothing at all like a septic tank.

I wouldn't buy a house with that in the garden for £1000, let alone what you're paying.

You say it's your forever home but things change and you can see from the comments on here no one will buy it off you.

Pull out and keep looking. It's something you'll never regret.

Pull out OP! This is not worth the hassle of works that will inevitably need carrying out over the years.

We have a sewage pumping station just along from our house. Whenever there is a problem (the shit gets stuck, power cut, something breaks) there is a piercing alarm that sounds. Someone then calls thr emergency number and they send out a crew to assess. Even if its the middle of the night. If its a power cut, they sit a truck there and run the engine with it connected to the pumping station for as long as it takes for the power to come back on. After a big storm it was 2 days (we took the poor guys cups of coffee). The truck blocks our access road, so if we need to get by we have to play car tetris everytime.

Its a big thing to omit from the sellers details

I’m sorry but I’m going to say you need to run, run far away. Don’t reduce offer, just pull out completely. There’ll be other houses.

While I don't think a sewerage tank is necessarily a deal breaker (presumably there must be lots and lots of people who have them in their gardens)

This isn't a septic tank, we have a septic tank in our garden. It is a private thing and minimal hassle.
A public sewage plant isn't that.

pull out.....you don't want the expense and hassle of when they dig it all up to change the pipes.....pump....deal with flooded systems....

If it goes wrong, it literally goes to shit and it gets all dug up. I'd rescind the offer.

quite a major thing to try and hide from you... what else are they hiding about the place?

I would also pull out

I agree with the posters who say I would withdraw your offer. If the pumping company need access monthly what is likely to be the cost in your time and irritation in providing this? Your time is not free and you are being asked to provide a service in arranging access, liasing with and supervising tradespeople. Plus there is the question of loss of amenity in your garden while this is going on, health and safety issues, and so on.

God no. Do not buy that house.

I'd pull out.
My DH's boss had a mains water pipe that crossed under the office carpark. Was replaced by council as regular maintenance due to age. Cost him thousands as he was liable for the cost of rebuilding after they'd destroyed the carpark digging up the concrete.

Always assume vendors don't tell the truth. My friends just sold their house. Haven't told buyers the roof leaks, hot water system is stuffed and other major things need fixing. Things that won't show up in inspection as they've patched them over.

This isn't a septic tank, we have a septic tank in our garden. It is a private thing and minimal hassle.
A public sewage plant isn't that.

Well clearly. I haven’t said anything to suggest otherwise. But it seems highly unlikely there is only one private garden in the country that a public sewage plant is under. There are likely quite a few other homes that have this particular disadvantage that people live in without it being a big enough deal to put them off. So how do they manage? Is it really a huge imposition? Or is it really pretty much no problem at all but it is one more thing where it could be a pain for a few weeks if something goes horribly wrong or For two days every 15 years when they have to replace it? Those are the things I’d be looking for - assuming the house is otherwise a fantastic one since OP has called i “forever home”.

We have power lines running over our property. We have to provide access from time to time for service providers to fix wires, add a house to the service (telephone and cable lines also run along), etc. It’s not really a problem because we don’t Have to be in to provide access, it’s always during office hours and we don’t use our garden much except at weekends and that might be different for the OP. They did have to change out a pole last year that was on the corner of our property and out neighbour’s which was a bit of a palaver (Though also fascinating to watch). But mainly from the noise and lack of parking which would have been a problem if it had been all on the neighbour’s property or on the street at the front of the house. It hasn’t spoiled our enjoyment of the house at all. The service providers are responsible for making good any damage. Obviously liability is also an issue that needs looking into. I’m just pointing out that some compromises are worth making for some people and the OP should look into it and decide if it works for her.

You need to understand how much access is needed and then if you go ahead then the price needs to be reduced. But why did the vendors lie? What else might they have lied about? I would be very nervous of going ahead without full transparency

I’d be pulling out too
Who knows what else they haven’t declared?

We have a sewage pump not far from our house.
They are frequently here checking it, and there was a major construction job not so long ago when the pump failed and it needed replacing.
I assume that the sewage company have the right to do whatever is needed, so could they put a vent in or place some sort of building on that area of the garden, in other words can the sewage company do whatever they want/need on that part of the garden ?
I can say without doubt that I would not buy it.

pull out.
you home insurance will be sky high and possibly exclude anything to do with the sewage works.
which leaves you in the literal shit when (not if) something happens.

in addition: if the seller lies about this, what else have they not been honest about?

Definitely pull out. 19 years water company asset experience here. Don’t worry about upsetting people or being polite. Just pull out. Honestly you don’t want the hassle.

I’d withdraw from the sale. I’m a surveyor & this would be a very hard no for me.

Underground sewage treatment is very different to overhead power lines, not least because it doesn’t involve digging up your backyard (which you then need to pay to re-landscape) when replacement or significant repairs are due.