Victorian terraced drains persistently blocked

[hinchcliffem]

I take it this problem with the drainage wasn't mentioned by the previous owners or picked up on survey?

No.
No mention anywhere when we were buying.
We subsequently learned that neighbors had similar problems though.

 

[Aire]

No.
No mention anywhere when we were buying.
We subsequently learned that neighbors had similar problems though.

I'm not an expert regarding the legal side of selling houses and maybe someone can confirm, but isn't it a legal requirement to disclose problems with utility services when selling your property? Clearly this hasn't happened overnight and probably been an issue for decades. I don't know who you could speak to about it or even if it's worth perusing but if this is going to cost thousands to put right, I'd be wanting answers off both the previous owners and the survey provider as to why it wasn't disclosed.

 

[Chuck]

Lifting the drain cover at the front of the house shows that the waste is not flowing through the trap sufficiently and it is blocking as a result.

Are your family careful about not putting stuff like cooking fat and/or wet-wipes, etc. down the drain?

 

[hinchcliffem]

Are your family careful about not putting stuff like cooking fat and/or wet-wipes, etc. down the drain?

Very careful!
However, there are only two of us in the house... low-flow toilets... showers not baths, etc means that we dont have a lot of water going down there either.

 

[WC1]

I'm not an expert regarding the legal side of selling houses and maybe someone can confirm, but isn't it a legal requirement to disclose problems with utility services when selling your property? Clearly this hasn't happened overnight and probably been an issue for decades. I don't know who you could speak to about it or even if it's worth perusing but if this is going to cost thousands to put right, I'd be wanting answers off both the previous owners and the survey provider as to why it wasn't disclosed.

Hi Craig, yes, the vendor should disclose known problems but in this case it would be impossible to prove the vendor knew and deliberately hid it.
The survey is literally that - looking around the property (generall by a bloke in a suit), lifting inspection covers etc is not something that would normally be done - getting a plumber to do a report on the condition of the plumbing would have been helpful (hindsight etc).
There may be some sort of insurance for latent defects on the purchase but thats not something I'm familiar with.
By all means have a poke at the surveyor, vendor, and your own buildings insurance.

 

[centralheatking]

Are you on a water meter ? If this is collective problem then your
utility are duty bound to get in there and solve it. Problems with more than 1x drainage system ie a shared network are now the responsibility of the
local utility....not yours...this includes all drains and septic tanks etc.....its relatively new legislation and obviously the people you call wont tell you....but thats the way it now stacks up Centralheatking