Build over agreement

[Adrian80]

Thats an interesting document.

The transfer of ownership is one reason water companies put up their prices. It seem inconceivable that they would be allowed to transfer the liability back to the home owner.

I guess it depends if it was built to building regs at the time, if it was the cost will surely fall back on the water company.

 

[jeds]

Anything over 10 houses requires 150mm.

I agree - current requirements. But it wasn't uncommon to put 20 houses on 4" drains back in the day.

 

[jeds]

I said right at the beginning, you don't need a build near agreement for this extension because prior to the adoption act the drains were private - which you confirmed. Not sure what you are going to do if solicitors insist though? I would still try to find out the depth of the foundation though - and make sure it is correct relative to the drain. You don't want any problems later.

 

[arthurphil]

Here's one companies view on it...

http://www.thameswater-propertysear...ges/Private_to_Public_Sewers_FAQs.pdf[/QUOTE]

RJM2K thanks for this I have forwarded to my solicitor.

 

[arthurphil]

Thank you all for your feedback and advice.

I spoke to Wessex Water again and a very helpful lady told me that prior to Jan 1st 1997 the drains are nothing to do with them so because the extension was built in 1994 they are not concerned about it and it would be Bristol City Council's planning department who I should be talking to. Bristol City Council returned my message on Friday and wouldn't say too much because of Data Protection but he did intimate that as long as the work was passed and there was a completion certificate in place then there was no cause for concern. I passed all this info onto my solicitor, estate agent and the seller and now I'm waiting for all that to be resolved as I understand he has lost the certificate.

On a side note, the sellers solicitor hung up on my solicitor last week and has now resorted to writing letters again and has told my solicitor to instruct me to stop talking to the seller directly! Obviously I immediately phoned him to tell him this and he was none too pleased. It turns out that he has never spoken to his solicitor and thought that we were holding everything up. He knows nothing about any of the problems, doesn't know that I have threatened to pull out and have put a timeframe on everything. We agreed a price at the start of July and it is only us and him in the chain, so I have said that if it isn't sorted by 2 Dec we will pull out.

Didn't have any issues like this on the first house I bought - except for the subsidence that wasn't spotted on the survey!

 

[rjm2k]

You really need to stop talking to the authorities yourself, it's the job of your solicitor to do that and you can potentially create problems by informing the authorities about things they don't know.

 

[arthurphil]

This is what I don't understand - how can I be creating problems? Surely if I am going to be buying the house I want to get it all legally correct so that I don't have these problems in the future. Why would I want to hide anything from them or am I being naïve?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Oh God this thread is soooooo painful!!!! Just buy the fickin house, The extension didn't need the Water Board input which jeds told you in the first reply to your opening post.

 

[rjm2k]

If you go along to the LA and say "fred blogs at number 5 xyz street did blah blah blah on the 4th of november 2013, what do you know about it?" then you are informing them that some work has been done that they don't know about.

If you go along to the LA and say is there any work at number 5 xyz street that you have on your records? then they know nothing more than they already did.

If it turns out that they do not know about work that you have informed them of, then it can cause issues because the vendor will not be able to purchase an indemnity which means you may not be able to buy the house and if you still can, you will not be able to get an indemnity which can mean you struggle to sell in the future.

I'm not sure if the vendor has any claim against the "informer" in these circumstances, but it benefits nobody anyway.

It's your solicitors job, not yours.

 

[arthurphil]

Oh God this thread is soooooo painful!!!! Just buy the fickin house, The extension didn't need the Water Board input which jeds told you in the first reply to your opening post.

Ok - thanks for that...

 

[arthurphil]

It's your solicitors job, not yours.

Righto, thanks for that. Just trying to move things along as the seller is p*ssed by midday everyday, his solicitor is a cantankerous old b*tch who starts screaming at the slightest provocation, my solicitor (despite having been in the business for 30 years) doesn't seem to know her arse from her elbow and I just want to make sure that I'm not going to get stung in the future because of their inability to pick up the phone and sort sh*t out.

Either way I'm very grateful for all of you feedback and advice, especially Mr Mercury !

 

[jeds]

It's an insurance company thing. It's possible to buy an indemnity policy to cover costs if problems ever crop up in the future. So you buy the house and if the sewage people came along in three or four years time and said they had to dig up your garden and it was going to cost you ten grand then the indemnity policy would cover your costs. This is a very common occurrence where extensions and other building works are done without building regulations. BUT, insurance companies won't agree to an indemnity policy if the relevant authority has been alerted to a potential breach of procedure. So once you contact building control, or whoever, you rule out an indemnity policy.

Actually I think this is all academic really. The drain was not public when the extension as built to no rules have been broken. It may be in your interest to make sure the foundation is deeper than the drain (so you can be reasonably sure the extension isn't going to cause and damage) but that's all you need to do. There is no legal obligation beyond that.

 

[Adrian80]

I personally would do exactly as you have done, your buying the house and you want to know what you are buying, liability included. In fact if you didn't do this you would be a fool!

Houses are expensive, it's not a 500 quid car!

And let's face it no one looks out for you like your self!

Indemnity and insurance claims are a load of hassle, if there were issues like it not having a final building control completion cert, I would want to adjust the price I would pay!

I don't think you would have a problem in this case, but good for you for investigating.