Found drain covers under carpet in new house - problem?

[SeraOfeliaFalfurrias]

We've just bought a new house, built in 1970s, extended in 1980s. Today we pulled up the old carpets and found two drain covers in the hallway in the extended bit of the house, which I assume used to be outside. Is this okay and/or legal? Can we just quietly cover them up again or should we have them looked at? I can't say I fancy having the water board in my hallway pulling up my new oak flooring if anything goes wrong with the local drains! We couldn't get the covers off to see what's underneath, I doubt anyone has touched them in 30 years.

We didn't get a single document regarding the extension from the vendors.

That's really odd, was it mentioned on the enquiry paperwork which sellers complete? Normally there is a q about extensions , windows/doors, planning/buildings regs and related certificates. Did you get an indemnity policy instead perhaps?

If this was extended in the 80s the rules would have been different. Build over agreements for most sewers that serve private houses only came into force in 2011 when the sewer system for any sewer serving more than one house became public rather than private. If it's in your loo the chances are that it only joins to your loo, so is a private sewer still (in only carrying the waste from one house), but you could need to confirm with your water board (although if anything like ours they probably don't have records of where these newly public sewers are). Building regs were also very different. And permitted development did not exist in the 80s. I would be most worried whether this was safe, and also to get it sealed to stop smells etc. A builder may be the best person to quote for that.

Just to say that if the house was extended in the 80s (I think you said it was) then that may be why there aren't planning docs. Our current house was converted and extended in the 80s, we asked our solicitor to specifically get all planning docs related to this but she said the 80s pre dates the sort of documents we were expecting to get. She could've been wrong (hope not!) but in general she was meticulous so this could be why you haven't received any docs relating to the extension?

Interestingly, we also found a small drain cover in our downstairs loo. Not part of the extension though. The guy doing our bathroom tiled it over though which wasn't what we would have wanted him to do, so that's on our long list of stuff to sort out.

I am not an expert but have read up a lot on this in other forums, and my understanding is the planning do not / cannot enforce any infringement over 20 years old (hopefully an expert will come on to correct this if wrong). So there is much less to worry about in terms of planning (my 1970s extension has planning approval on the local council website so there was planning documentation in the past). The issue for me would be safety (although if it was going to collapse, I think it may have done so already) and hygiene. My friends have a house with inside drains covers but they are all sealed and covered to minimise risk of flooding or smell.

Rose 1605 is absolutely right. The law changed a few years ago and shared drains are now.public. They are not necessarily shown on your drainage search

I.would have thought this is something uou surveyor should have picked up on. Even if he didn't lift the carpets I'm surprised your surveyor didn't mention lack of manholes.

Thongs have changed a lot. Did you get a building regs consent or dod you get an indemnity policy? If the latter you may have just invalidated your insurance by ringing the council.

If all.signed off then you just want to make sure you have proper easy access.

We got an indemnity policy on the windows because the vendors didn't have paperwork, nothing was mentioned by our solicitor regarding the extension so we assumed all was finalised, sealed and sorted. Home buyers survey and searches didn't pick anything up.

Did you get a building regs consent - what is that and where would we have got it from?

Still no word from solicitors.

Building regulations consent is a certificate signing off the work. It would only have met the regulations in force at that time but something would have been checked, even if pp wasn't needed. However given the size of the extension , and the implication it is on the front of the building , pp would almost certainly have been needed and there should also be documentary evidence of this. Windows should have been FENSA certificated and that is an easy check to make online. If that was omitted I'd suspect there may not have been full approval for the work. As you already have the indemnity insurance checking with the council now shouldn't be a problem.

Windows were not done at the time of the extension, they're a whole separate issue.

Were there no windows or doors installed in the extension too?

Yes, but they've since been replaced by new UPVC.

Do a search on your local council planning website
See what comes up for for your house
Is the extension on your title plan?

Any updates ? I’m looking at house to buy that has (what I’ve been told) an excess chamber in dining room for rainwater and I presume the toilet ... current owners discovered it years after buying and haven’t ever seen into it haha n 23 years