PS
In England and Wales. I expect Scotland is different.
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6 years ago
RSJs, Fensa etc - lack of paperwork
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6 years ago
My father dealt with this and he died 15 years ago but I remember it as clear as if it was yesterday because he did it when it first became news that if you were not attached to the sewer for surface water you should not be being charged - and this must have been at least 25 years ago.
There was lots of too-ing and fro-ing before they agreed to remove the charge but of course, I have no record of any of this (and obviously can not ask my father), nor do I know how it was established that there were soakaways, but that is what my Dad told me at the time.
Fingers crossed, you are right, and they will not be asking up to dig up the garden for proof. :-)
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6 years ago
can you not just get a percolation test done ? ...
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6 years ago
I am no idea what that is, but I am not agreeing to anything at this stage of the game because the request for proof is stupid.
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6 years ago
Oh well you won't sell then .....
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6 years ago
Why not?
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6 years ago
Where do the drains at the side of the road go to? What if there aren't any convenient streams for them to drain into?
What about drains in private parking lots, e.g. adjacent to flats?
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6 years ago
What advice are you proposing?
The path is fenced off from the field. The only place one can get to on the path is the properties in question, it goes nowhere else.
There is nothing to say who owns the path. I believe the history of it is that it is on the line of the old public footpath through the field. The farmer decided (probably unilaterally though in practice it makes little difference) to move the public footpath route to the other side of the buildings and clearly on his farm land.
This leaves a "stub" of a path which terminates at the last of the houses and is fenced off from the field. Probably done 50 years ago.
Not only is it fenced it is nicely paved and the two edge properties have nice little borders against the farmer's fence.
Half of the occupants use that path, as do services, postmen, dustbin men (pre wheelie bins), electricty meter readers, septic tank emptiers etc. The other half of occupants use another path (nothing to do with public footpaths) the other side.
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6 years ago
It's irrelevant after this length of time.
Again too long ago
Then the buyer can pay for it.
No, it just that conveyancers these days are just box tickers, they do not know the law, let alone have common sense. If the price is right and the buyer wants the property they will buy it anyway, if not there are always other buyers.
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6 years ago
It is impossible to specify every aspect of ownership and access in a set of properties that were part of an estate, have shared ground and individual ground and has evolved over 150+ years. There is a view that if one is going to 'nit pick' then maybe that place, where some things happen by consensus, is not the place to buy.
What happened there then?
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6 years ago
OP here. Additional to the issues in my first post we have a damp problem on the side wall that faces the back of the end 3 houses that face the road.
The path between the houses, and therefore the whole length of the side of my house, collects water in heavy rain. It is also the route for (shared) water supplies (I think) and sewage. Historically the water from the roofs went to a wash house in the middle of the group of properties, and that well has since been blocked off (safety I guess, plus washing machines). Anyway it occurs to me that this path may never dry out. It runs East-West so the wall and the path get next to no sun and I wonder whether the damp is due to the ground having got compacted (the path is that old studded black brick).
So what is a percolation test? How does it work?
I know for sure that the downpipes do not go into the sewage (septic tank system) and there is no other drainage.
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6 years ago
Out of interest, up until what point of time would it be relevant? Is there a time limit on the consequences of not having got Building Regulation Approval?
[snip]
That is my view also.
And that.
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6 years ago
Here our gutters and the drains in the road all go into the sewer and off to the treatment works. Rather wasteful, but the main sewers were all put in during the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s and there were far fewer houses then, so separate non-foul drains wouldn't have been considered.
Soakaways wouldn't be ideal - just down the road they used to dig out solid clay for the brickworks.
There was an article in the newsapapers some years ago when United Utilities tried to charge Peel Holdings for the rainwater discharge from the buildings and car-parks of the Trafford Centre (a couple of million quid IIRC), which were estimated to flow something like 10 tons of water per second in a downpour. Peel simply pointed out that all their surface water was discharged into the Manchester Ship Canal ... which they owned.
SteveW
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6 years ago
Some years ago I was told by my neighbour, who bought the house from new (1973) that for some reason my house gutters drain into a soakaway in his garden, so digging in mine wouldn't find much. ;-)
Chris
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6 years ago
people involved in a purchase especialy when mortgages are concerned need guarantees...you could try we buy any house for a nice low cash offer ......
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6 years ago
I wouldn't bother then the water is obviously not percolating away.......
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6 years ago
So you are an expert, perhaps a conveyancing solicitor with genuine knowledge?
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6 years ago
I didn't
NT
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6 years ago
It's irrelevant as far as prosecution for BR breach is concerned, but might not be irrelevant as far as structural safety is concerned.
indeed
Precisely. I'd like to respond to such things along the lines of: If you believe such a policy would be of value you are free to buy it. The question is whether you wish to purchase the house.
They have to cover their asses and justify their pay.
Usually yes. But lack of access is a major issue. Someone will know what rights might be gained from your long standing use of the present access.
NT
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6 years ago
Fortunately I have an engineer's report which a builder then followed.
This is only 3 years ago - still too long?
The occupants of several properties use the path, though surely if an Easement Indemnity is to apply it needs to be in the name of one of the people who have used the path?
As covered above and previously the path is used for the sole benefit of residents to gain access to the rear of the properties (or the front of the properties in the case of the two on the end). I can't claim a "sole" use, no-one else can.
I suspect that the farmer arranged it all some 40+ years ago. He was a bit of a "Lord of the Manor" and the village is scattered with bits of helpful arrangements around his land. Of course the farmer's property (the son now) will not be on the Land Registry.