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?