Can't locate manhole cover

[gemininova]

Hi everyone, hoping that someone can help with this.

We're looking to move and have found a lovely house. However, we've had a survey done which has flagged several issues - the main concern being that the surveyors couldn't locate the manhole cover.

They asked the current sellers and they claim they do not know either and have no documents to locate it.

BIL is a builder and has flagged that often builders will cut corners and may have built over it during an extension in 2016.

He's advised that if we cant locate it and there is a problem down the line, then it could be upwards of 50k and digging the first floor up to locate it.

We're not getting very helpful advice from solicitors, surveyor or the sellers - who are all suggesting that we go over to the property and look ourselves.

To me this just sounds counterproductive? If the seller cannot locate the manhole of the house they've lived in for years, then why would we?

I'm feeling totally confused and concerned. Just wondering if anyone has any experience on whether we should pull out or press on?

I think BIL is right. It is probably worth looking yourself... and also just checking whether there is access to it from inside. I visited a house once where a terrible extension had been build over a manhole and the manhole cover was in the kitchen floor under the units.

I suspect it's been built over. It used to be quite common. Is there any accessible access near the house for drainage rods? If so then you should be ok.

Can you ask any of the close neighbours where their manhole covers are? That should give you more of a steer as to where the one is in the house you want to buy.

Great idea to ask the neighbours.

If it's a manhole for a public sewer, your water company should be able to provide you plans of where the manhole is.

This relates to when we built an extension 20 years ago so may not be up to date. The Water company /council had a map showing the rain and waste water sewers and how they ran through our gardens /the road.
We wanted to build an extension and had a rain water inspection hatch where we wanted to build - which to do properly would have required an internal hatch and enough room around in for drain unblocking rods etc plus we would have needed a legal building over a sewer agreement and building regs.
So we accessed this map which showed the run of the sewers. We did find it wasn’t 100 accurate though and had to get an engineer from the water co to inspect our drain. To cut a long story short as it was only our rain water running into the drain we were able to divert it and had to create a new inspection chamber outside which was preferable to having it inside. Again this was all signed off by building regs as part of the build.

So you need to find out the following
1- the map/plan of sewers and hatches this should show where your hatch should be when originally your house was built
2 details of any building works such as patio extension conservatory garage drive etc when and if building regs were obtained.

If the hatch is buried under a patio or drive it’s not ideal as you would be required to dig up your drive/patio if the water co needed ti access it at your expense but if you find it’s under the house /in an extension or conservatory and there is no building over agreement I would run a mile as a) the sewer might be weakened or unsafe and b) you may need to dig up your floor and possibly demolish walls to allow access again all at your expense.

We got far more info out of the neighbours than we did the vendors.
Our manhole was discovered when the vendor's removals van drove over it and it collapsed.
We also had no external stop tap which was a nightmare to sort out.

It does sound like yours may have been built over, which is worrying.

Sorry just re read and see there was an extension built in 2016 - this should be covered in the building regs for the extension . Also the council may have further details on the planning file as this may show floor plans /site drawings

Call up your local architects and ask them if they can do utility checks for you…. They’ll have access to drainage maps in your area (hopefully!)

Have you had your drainage search (CON29DW) through from the solicitors yet? The map it contains should give you some idea where it should be and how likely it is that it's been built over by the extension.

ISaidDontLickTheBin - that’s a better idea than mine! Ignore me!!

If it has been built over can you get an indemnity policy for it?

When a friend of mine bought her bungalow the surveyor said he could not find the manhole cover. Turned out it was in one of the borders in the garden but was completely covered by big shrubs. She only found it 2 years later.

We couldn’t find ours and suspected it had been built over, but it appeared when we replaced the garden. Lo and behold it previous owners buried it and put paving stones over it. If it’s a terrace you can ask neighbours where their covers are and it might give you a rough idea of where it is on your property