Home Buyers Drain Surveys

If you are looking to buy a new property it is fairly standard practice these days to have a drain camera survey carried out, many mortgage lenders insist on a pre-purchase drain inspection before they will lend on a property and your Estate Agent will probably have a contractor that they can recommend.

We usually role up on site to undertake a drain inspection survey and the current home owner will tell us they have lived in the property for 30 years and never had a blockage, and that may well be the case however a pre-purchase drain survey is not necessarily about problems that may cause drains to block, it can be more to do with potential water loss local to the foundations.

There have however been occasions where people have bought a property without a survey and then found out from the neighbours that the previous owners had to have the system cleared twice a year, so given that the technology is there to undertake these surveys and the cost of the survey in relation to the financial commitment you are making is nominal, it really does make sense to see what is going on below ground before you buy.

House Surveys and Drain Inspections

You will of course at some point employ a surveyor to look at a property and their main concern is the integrity of the structure, if they see cracking to the brickwork or mortar beds they would usually have some concerns about the drainage system and any water loss local to the foundations.

Likewise if there are obvious signs of settlement to hard standings local to external drainage gully pots, the soil vent pipe or manholes and inspection points most surveyors will have concerns about soil erosion, if the property is adjacent to large trees or shrubs the potential for root damage to the property foundation and drainage system would usually prompt a surveyor to recommend a drain camera inspection.

Some surveyors will lift external manholes where possible and if they see standing water, a build up of silt or tree root intrusion to the manhole itself they will want to know what the condition of the incoming and outgoing pipe work is.

Typical Problems Uncovered During Home Buyers Drain Surveys

All the usual defects listed through this site can be found as part of these surveys such as root damaged pipe work, displaced, fractured or broken pipe work, fractured gullies and defective manholes. Surveyors also tend to comment on external above ground pipework as part of their surveys so defective soil vent pipes, rain water down spouts and gutters also have to be considered.

Pre-Purchase Surveys Complete, What Now !

The whole point of these surveys is that you as the buyer knows exactly what you are getting for your money or what you are inheriting from the previous owner, we as a contractor will always stress that we are unlikely to find anything that would threaten the sale of a property because all defects can be fixed so it usually comes down to who’s paying.

Most drain inspection companies will submit costs for any drain repairs required along with the drain survey report so at the very least you are in a position to negotiate the cost off the asking price, a DVD recording, still images and data sheets should also be provided to back up any findings

Many of the defects found may be covered by the current property owners insurance so they could well make a claim, this can be a bit of a hand brake as far as the house move goes but if their insurers agree to pay for the works they can often be done after the sale has been completed.