Underground sewer of new build

[jascyl]

Hi, I'm buying a new build detached house and only realised that there are share use underground sewers and drains under the plot when the sale showed me drainage plan during reservation.

I raised my concerns on the maintenance responsibility and interfacing issues of those underground pipe. The sale told me I have the responsibility of everything under my plot including the share use pipes. He added that it is applied to all homeowners i n UK.

However, according to the websites of Ofwat and the sewerage company, the sewerage company is responsible for sewers and drains used by two or more properties if they are up to the standards, no matter they are on private land or public space. The developer would handover the new sewers and drains to the sewerage company at completion of construction under adoption agreement.

At this point, I felt I was misled by the sale but unsure if my understanding on the sewerage arrangement is correct or not as I only moved to UK or few months. I believed that if the developer deign and build the pipe according to the adoption standards, the concerned pipes should be adopted by the sewerage company.

Therefore, I would like to seek your advice if it is a common arrangement in new build or existing properties for the homeowner to take responsibility of the share use pipes under their plot. Also, should it be a major issue to be consider when buying a new house? So I continue the purchase or ask the developer to reduce the price if it is down to my responsibility to maintain the concerned pipes.

I'd ask your Solicitor if the adoption of the communal pipes will be automatic or if the developer will have to apply for that. I've heard of developments where the local council won't adopt the roads and it causing issues, so this may be similar. At the least, you need to know before you exchange.

You're correct, shared pipes are the responsibility of the water & sewage company. You are only responsible for the length of sewer that only serves your property (usually called the lateral connection), so that would be the drainage from your house until it joins a length of sewer that also serves your neighbours, or detached properties sometimes connect directly into the main sewer in the street.
BUT if it's a new build development then I would definitely check that they actually been adopted by the water company. Even if they have been built to the adoptable standards they aren't always adopted until a certain stage in the development or until after a period of "beneficial use" (like a snagging period).

Are the shared drains under the plot of land that your house is on or under the property itself? Is your property connected into these pipes?

Ignore what the salesperson tells you - they are clueless. Just have your solicitor confirmed 100% the situation of ownership, responsibility, adoption/ handover to water company etc.

FWIW, pretty much all 'shared drainage' is now responsibility of water company. My house & neighbours sewer connect together under my back garden. Any blockages beyond the bit thst is 100% my use only, I ring Thames water to come and sort out and it costs me £0.

If the salesman said it is my responsibility, I'm thinking if we should back out before the solicitor starts working on my case so that we could save the solicitor fee and have my reservation money back.

The pipe is only under the plot but not under the house.

Is it common for new build doesn't meet the adoption standard? If it is the case, is that mean the sewerage company will not adopt the share pipes, right?

If it is confirmed the pipes are not included in the adoption agreement, what should I do?

It's also maybe a problem if you think you'd want to extend over them. You'd need water company permission and depends on depths etc

We've been in our new build 7 years and the water company has still not adopted the drains as they believe they have been built defectively. The house builder is leaving it to the managing agents to sort out which means any cost in getting the drains to the correct standards will be born by the residents.

I think so because all private owned share pipes in UK were adopted by sewerage company in 2011 as the government noted that these pipes would cause many problems. If they allow building new private owned share pipe after the large scale adoption, what they did in 2011 was meaningless.

But if it is really the case in the plot I have reserved, it is better to cancel the reservation or what could we do? Because we really like the property.

It could be a nightmare if it involves all sewers and drains in the development and the buyer didn't expect they have the responsibility on it.

I would be pretty hesitant to purchase a property that isn’t on adopted drainage.

This is only true if the water company have adopted the sewers. How it works is that a developer has to apply to connect new developments into the sewer to ensure there is capacity downstream in the network and also at the treatment works to cope with the additional flow. They maybe also agree to build drainage to adoptable standards. Once developments are complete (or partially complete) the developer then has to apply to the water company for the new assets to be adopted. This can take years if it’s a big development and there are still sewers to be constructed and connected. The new sewers will only be adopted if the developer can demonstrate they have been constructed to the adoptable standards and the water company agree to take them on. If they don’t, or until such time as they do, then it’s the responsibility of the property owners. You can’t just build pipes and they’re automatically the responsibility of the water company.

Can't understand why the developers do not build sewers up to adoption standard as it will shift the responsibility to their buyers who already paid sewage charge to have their sewage treated and sewers maintained by sewerage company.

Because it’s cheaper / quicker / easier / they aren’t bothered about the long term consequences for property owners / they plan to build them to adoptable standards but don’t actually execute the design accurately…..

Why should they? They have zero incenctive to. They will claim a yearly management fee for works completed or not.