Search has revealed no foul water drainage

[zippyswife]

Buying a 1930s property down an established road in an urban area. The search has revealed that there is no foul or surface water drainage.

Sellers on the PIF form have indicated that it is connected to foul water drainage and that there is no cess pit/septic tank.

Could the search report be incorrect?

The drain is currently blocked and the surveyor has indicated that camera investigation is required but I don’t want to pay out for this if there is an issue with drainage.

This is the third house we’ve attempted to buy, we’ve had such shitty luck with it all over the last year and this is the only outstanding thing in the chain.

Any advice much appreciated.

If the search has literally only looked for foul or surface drainage, could it be that there is a combined sewer? Missing that and reporting no drainage would be a bit of a stupid mistake though!

Much more likely in a house of that age that it all goes into the one sewer. If the drain is blocked then it needs sorting out - speak to the EA handling the sale.

If the drain is blocked and requires jetting, choose a firm who also does CCTV. You need to know why its blocked could be roots, collapsed drain, disjointed pipes etc. They will be able to look on the United Utilities website as well to confirm that there is no foul water drain on the map. Would be foolish not to have drain unblocked without knowing why, CCTV survey done after jetting will map location of drains and where they join the main sewer. Perhaps it is just marked in the wrong colour on the UU map. Unblocking and a drain and a CCTV survey at the same time will save ££ on a blockage that you don't know the cause of, and may require a dig to solve.

May well be a shared “private” sewer serving several properties before connecting to the “main” sewer.

Any private sewer serving more than 1 property is now the local sewerage undertakers responsibility (e.g. Thames water, United Utilities, etc). But they have poor records of these, hence may not show on a search. If the block is on the shared section, water company may deal, if it’s on your connection only, the it’s your vendors responsibility.

Good luck.

If there's no sewerage, what are the current (or most recent) residents doing for flushing the toilet?

So that search makes no sense. Although I would be asking the sellers to unblock the drains before buying them!