 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Back when buying our house we discussed a document with the solicitor, which showed the various services running across our property. I recall this because the plans showed some man-holes that we had not seen (later found under a flower bed/rockery) and did not show another that I had a photo of.
We did not receive a copy of this document, either electronically or by post.
I'm keen to review this as there is a tree in our front garden I need to take out (because t's fugly and I want to plant two more trees - but need to make sure I'm suitable clear of the sewers, electricity, water and gas.
What might this document be called? I'm discussing it with the solicitor (thankfully still working for the same practice). She's of course slow, shared some documents electronically but has requested paper files to be brought back from stores for me. If I knew exactly what this type of search was that might help me? Is it something I might be able to obtain myself? (from the Land Registry? or someone else?). Or is there a better and more robust way to find the necessary information that I need?
Any help appreciated.
Would it be a services plan?
Not sure how easy it is to get a single drawing showing all [edit] services such as gas, electric, water and sewers [/edit] for domestic properties, but when I've had to check similar for industrial sites in the past, the services plan has ended up being a composite produced from records provided by a number of different statutory authorities [edit] such as the British Gas, DNO and National Grid, local water company and local wastewater company (usually the same company, but not always), oh, and telecomms providers, so BT Openreach and Virgin...[/edit]
Could be the water search. That would contain plans showing the locations of the water main and sewer.
Yep, sounds like search results which should include water and drainage search results. They usually contain a plan of pipes and manholes. You should've received a copy so hopefully it can be sent if it wasn't before. They aren't 100% so you still need to do a manual check and go carefully
They aren’t 100%
This. The one that is attached to our deeds is so inaccurate to be both laughable and potentially dangerous. Next doors is no better. According to a Severn Trent water guy I spoke to when we were working on the house very few of the mains water, gas or sewage diagrams they work from in the Malvern area bear any relation to what actually exists. Apparently this explains why they have to dig so may holes in the roads and verges when ever any problems occur. When you do get the document go carefully as said above
It will only show public sewer and water,i.e. water authority owned. Not private pipes/drains, which is probably why some were shown and others not.
As above, it's only a guide, do not scale off it.....
Thanks all, including the words of caution.
Water and drainage search is likely it.
As much as I love swinging my mattock and digging holes, I expect that whatever plans I come up with will have to be adjusted to suit what I find underground.
I've no idea what it's called but it sounds like a dump from GIS by your local council. I worked for one - very briefly - and all this sort of stuff was on a single system called MapInfo which was a sort of bastard son of a SQL database and Google Maps. They used it to map things like bin routes but it also held all the amenities and stuff that Civil Engineering would need to know before they punched a hole in the floor.
I'd suggest talking to a tame nerd in your borough council.
https://www.linesearchbeforeudig.co.uk/
This link would get you access to subscribed service providers for free. Some service providers aren't signed up as they like to charge for the privilege of letting you know where their apparatus is (BT for example).
The plans as with all service drawings are indicative only and most likely aren't all that accurate as mentioned in earlier posts.
According to a Severn Trent water guy I spoke to when we were working on the house very few of the mains water, gas or sewage diagrams they work from in the Malvern area bear any relation to what actually exists.
Place I worked at in Leeds lost its water supply after a couple of days the Yorkshire Water map truck arrived bit like a mobile library (for those that know what they were) guy invited me in to show me the problem the map he was using was from late 1800's
Thanks to Wibble for that link - at least my Water supplier are signed up and that's one that I know is running nearby.
When we were having our extension built, South West Water insisted on coming out to visit the site to ensure that works were not going to interfere with access to the manhole their records showed as being sited in our garden, or indeed risk damage to the associated pipework. They wouldn't of course take our word for it that no such manhole or pipework existed in the garden. We'd already commenced some excavation at that time and found nothing.
When visiting the site the surveyor (or whatever he was) was confused to find that there was indeed no sign of any manholes or pipework anywhere in our back garden. After some further examination of his plans and exploring the surrounding area, he deduced that the the manhole in question was actually the one located at the end of our drive, some 15-20 metres away! So the official records cannot be relied on.