Water/drainage search reveals property I'm selling doesn't drain into public sewer. What now?

[Thumbsnet]

I'm in the process of selling my property. It's been almost 3 months now since I accepted the buyer's offer (who is a cash buyer). Both solicitors have been so slow.

I've just received the enquiries back and one of the questions says that the Water and Drainage Search has revealed that surface water on the property I'm selling does not drain into a public sewer. I then have to confirm that I have sole or shared responsibility for private drains serving the property.

Next, I am asked to confirm if the private sewer is subject to a Section 104 adoption agreement and provide a copy of the same, and to confirm when I last carried out maintenance of the private sewers and the relevant costs.

Finally, I have to advise the arrangements for the disposal of surface water.

This all relates to a property that I bought as a new-build in 2011 from Taylor Wimpey.

This all sounds odd to me as it did not come up when I purchased the property.

Can anyone advise what I have to do? Should I now also arrange for a Water and Drainage search to ensure that the buyer's search results are correct?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

I was hoping to complete after this and this one thing has thrown a spanner in the works and is starting to make me think that this sale could end up going on for months.

Hopefully, this is something that can be sorted out quickly.

As others have said you will have separate surface water drainage ( worth checking any rebate due on your sewage bills). If you can’t get the details can you get an indemnity policy to cover it? You could also try the environment agency although they don’t issue permits for surface water). Is there anything in the initial planning application if you can find it?

Our surface water (the guttering and whatever falls on the gardens) just discharges straight into the ground. There won’t be any sewers to be adopted in this case. Have a look at your guttering downpipes and see where they go. Some of ours have a 90 degree bend on the end and discharge into flower beds and some just disappear into the ground.

Can you look on your local council planning portal for the planning for the site (should be online hopefully, ours goes back 25 years) and ascertain what the planning shows for surface water drainage?

I would have thought that if you went on the local councils website and looked up planning applications, you could find the one for the original development and I would have thought the S104 agreement plus sewer plans and surface water drainage treatment would be on there. I had to do something similar a couple of years ago with a probate property my mother had inherited and all the information was there, spread across 3 planning applications. Got to be worth a try?

My sympathy OP because I had a similar query from my buyer's solicitor last time I moved and wasted a lot of time on it, phoning the water company person I spoke to didn't really know what I was on about. Mid-terrace property c.1900 I assumed the arrangement was the same as all the other houses in the row. No soakaway, I think the surface water just went into the ground

The S104 agreement can cover surface water drainage. What does it say and what’s on your bill? Not sure you have said. You can trawl through the pp documents of course.

I live very far away from the property so I'm unable to check the drains, although the Buyer's conveyancer won't accept my word or my solicitor's. He wants a formal document or a statement from SevernTrent for example.

It's really frustrating because SevernTrent are not going to be helpful as most big companies aren't. However, I've got to say that TaylorWimpey have been responsive and helpful which I did not expect.

I want to pay for a drainage expert to produce a report, but my solicitor is saying that I should not have to, and that saying I have a soak away should suffice. Are any of you solicitors/conveyancers? Is this correct? I asked my solicitor if they had any law or something we could point the Buyer's lawyer to and they replied: 'I'm a solicitor. They should accept that.'

Any advice appreciated.

Honestly, if you want a report just get one. It'll cost a couple of hundred quid and can be done within days. Then you can move on.

@Thumbsnet You keep saying it’s down to the water company. If surface water isn’t on the bill, you don’t have a system operated by them. Have you ever looked at your bill? If you are not paying for this service, you don’t have it! How did the searches show it’s not connected to the main sewer for surface water drainage? If the S104 doesn’t mention surface water, the house has its own arrangement.

Therefore you need to accept you have a private arrangement. You could have asked for a survey days ago! You don’t need the water company to tell you what you haven’t got! You need to establish whether you have a soak away or if the water just goes directly into the ground. A drains company will easily work that out and they should also establish if the estate uses ditches or a collection pond. It’s no big deal to get this info and you are over complicating it.

I haven't been able to do that as advised by my solicitor because it could well be that the buyer's conveyancer won't accept it, which would result in a waste of money.

The issue has been solved now. The water company came back and have advised that the drains are adopted and that my property's drains are connected to the estate's drains.

That is not always the case. Some accounts are wrongly billed and so account holders are eligible for a rebate.

The issue has been solved now. The water company came back and have advised that the drains are adopted and that my property's drains are connected to the estate's drains. That was all I needed after weeks of back and forth. The sale is exchanging and completing this week.

Thanks for everyone's help.

I’m sure you’ve googled that and it’s easy to say now! However your bill is the starting point. If you had any concerns about the bill, im amazed you didn’t work out your drainage arrangement earlier.

I think you knew the sewer was adopted. Surface water is not normally connected to foul sewers these days. So your surface water will be piped off your property to a collection “pond” or ditch. Where do you think it goes?

No, I didn't Google it. Actually, some very helpful responses to my OP informed me.

This all came about because the Buyer's conveyancer's survey brought back the result that my property was not connected to the public sewers, so in fact the survey was wrong all along^.

I didn't live at the property. It was rented and I live 6 hours away so I can't check the drains.

Anyway, I exchanged and completed today and don't have a property to buy. All is well.
^