How much would you worry about lead water supply pipe to a house

[Zapzep]

I am thinking about putting an offer in on a house, unfortunately the mains stop tap is completely hidden. I have had a couple of viewings and can’t locate the stop tap, it appears that it has been completely boxed in and made inaccessible by an island in the the kitchen. I have made inquiries with a surveyor and they said that they can’t help as the rising main is inaccessible, I have also made inquires with one or two other companies in the hope that someone can either locate the external l stop tap and establish that the supply pipe isn’t lead or test the water, but neither could provide any help.

The vendor is asking for more than the asking price and I can’t really afford to buy the house then find that item it’s going to cost thousands to replace the water main. So if I buy the house and it does in fact have lead pipes I will be stuck with them.

Short of potentially spending months looking for another property does anyone have any suggestions as to a way forward, I already have heath problems that I don’t need to exposed to lead water. Does anyone know of a company that can potential trace and locate the supply pipe to see if it is lead or test water in someway?

Simple: don't touch this house until the owners can clearly show where the internal stopcock is and they can confirm whether the pipes are lead or not...

I bought a 1930s terrace and I am having issues with this: internal stopcock can't be found, l it is probably also under the sink (it is a terrace and this where my neighbour's is located) but has been covered by kitchen fittings/cabinets.

The external one can be turned off/on to shut the supply but it is tricky to do and the water company told me that if they install a brand new one it might mean a new main is needed if the existing pipe turns out to be copper...

Of course my idiot surveyor did not mention this could be an issue.

Certainly don't pay over asking price for this house and let the sellers do some work to try to sort this out. They should at the very least get a plumber to try to find the internal stopcock.

We have a lead pipe from the mains supply to the house. We had a leak as the pipe was so old and they become pitted over time so they replaced that section with plastic (it was covered by insurance so we couldn't replace the whole pipe, but it's something we're looking to do when we can afford it, as I imagine the remaining sections will go at some point.

But I must admit, I told we had the leak we didn't even know the pipes were lead, and we've never had any problems health wise. The previous owner was here 40 years and also seemed absolutely fine.

So I imagine if you plan to replace them at some point you:ll be fine in the short term. I'd be more concerned about the stop cock to be honest. Like PPs have said you can turn it off on the street, but we need a special tool for ours, plus it's a bit of a faff.

*before we had the leak, not "I told"!

I’ve not read the whole thread so sorry if this is irrelevant or has already been said, but I know of at least 1 area where the water company is replacing lead pipes free of charge (Coventry). Could be worth checking if your local water company has a similar plan.

https://www.dwi.gov.uk/lead-in-drinking-water/#:~:text=Those%20at%20particular%20risk%20are,kidney%2C%20heart%20and%20circulatory%20health.
Take them out.