Sewer issue - who is liable?

D

DoubleDrat

Guest
Hi all, hope someone may have some advice for this situation...
Purchased a 3bed semiD (that had just been fully refurb'd & extended) in Oct last. Since then we have had to call Dynorod out twice to unblock a sewer at the back of house. After the second call-out we got the planning file to have a look at the plans for the sewers... turns out in the planning permission that the sewer should connect into the main sewer at the front of the house, this is not the case, it is connected to an existing old sewer and the dynorod guy mentioned the gradient does not look high enough to assist the flow (ie long-term issue). There was a certificate of compliance in the planning file also.

We are the first people to live in the house in over 2 years (while it was being refurb'd/extended), we contacted the vendor we bought the house from after 3 months and explained the situation, he eventually offered to pay half the cost of relocating the sewer to the main at the front, we know that this should have been done from the start and would like to know if we should put-up and shut-up and pay half, or if we have any comeback because as it stands the vendor has violated the planning application.

Are we right to take this up with the vendor or the council or our solicitor?
any opinions appreciated...
 
Did you get a full structural survey done on the property prior to purchase? If you did and this was not spotted then your surveyor may be responsible. I am surprised that the vendor is footing part of the bill for the changes required. I don't see how it is their responsibility. If the problems are with the utilities on the private property and how/where they connect to the mains then I don't think it's an issue for the local authority.
 
Is this particular damaged (misplaced) drain used by other residents to drain their waste. If it is (but before it joins up with council drainage) then all the residents in the row whose houses are serviced by this drain are liable for a share of the expense of putting it right.
I am in the middle of a similar and lengthy problem at the moment. The council will always come and and free blocked sewers for the fee of E120 (to be share by all the residents who are served by the drain, regardless if it is in your garden). If the rods don't work (as in my case), they will organise a reg contractor to dig up the offending drain and repair. Again, this must be shared by all concerned. I went down the very expensive road of private drainage people before I knew about this. However, the council are rectifying the problem now, and I have the unpleasant job of getting the money out of the others!!
 
Was the certificate of compliance issued by a Council Engineer? If so you do have some recourse there. AFAIK an engineer will not look at the drains - some recommend a hydrostatic test (plug the drain at both ends and check for leaks) and others recommend a CCTV survey (run a camera down the line and see the condition). Get a cost for relaying the line and weight this up against the financial cost of engaging a solicitor, your time and the waiting period for this to be resolved - could be letters going between 2 parties (esp. Council) for months! If the Vendor has offered to pay for half the costs, then I would seriously consider accepting this offer.

Ophelia - I wouldn't pay anyone €120 to clear a drain with rods! You could buy a lot of rods for that amount and play away with them for hours if that's what you want! So many people start connecting several rods to clear a blockage and end up with a bigger problem of 2 or 3 rods stuck down the drain! For a little more, you could get a professional drain cleaning co. to use high pressure jetting units to jetblast the line and from my experience have much better results. Just because the rods didn't work, I wouldn't start digging and replacing the line.
 
Thanks for the replys:
I have tried in vain to unblock using rods, but it seems the issue is more than 10M from my property.

- Clubman - A full structural survey was carried out at the time of purchase, but unfortunately opening the manholes and checking to see the flow-direction of the sewerage was not carried out! (is this is standard practice?!)

- Ophelia - This particular drain is used by 4 other houses, According to the planning application however our house should be seperate from this and draining to the main sewer independant of the other houses.

-Lorz - The cert of compliance was issuesd by a council engineer.

My own feeling is to take the vendor up on their offer of sharing the cost of relaying the sewer, although am disappointed to have to pay for this issue as it should have never occurred if the drains had been layed as set out in the planning application! I am not in a position where we can wait for Solicitors/Council etc to argue over who is to blame as in the end of the day I still have a sewer that keeps blocking every second month.
 
Have you considered getting a CCTV survey done? It would cost about €300 and DynoRod or any other drain cleaning co. would do it. You'll get a report & tape showing the condition of the drain. The blockages could be down to something simple which once cleared would run free for quite some time.

While being connected to a common drain servicing several houses can be problematic if some of your neighbours are irresponsible about what they put down the drains or paying their share of bills - it's not the end of the world. Get the cost of laying new drains and ask the vendor to pay for the entire amount - nothing ventured.... Worth a try!
 
Lorz, I had already paid a private drain clearing company over E375 to rod and use high water pressure - 3 hours later they had no luck. Then Council diagnosed a possible collapse/blockage of the pipe out on the footpath. Because it was a digging job the E120 fee wouldn't cover that. But they would have done the whole job for E120 regardless of time spent if it was just a simple blockage. The private company were charging something like E150 per hour.
 
I wouldn't pay anyone (council or private co) who uses rods to clear a blockage. There is no reason why a co. should spend 3hrs trying to clear a blockage for a private house - if it isn't cleared in an hour - there's a bigger problem that needs further investigating. I'm curious - does the €120 for the council cover jetting unit or rods? I suppose it's easy for the council to charge €120 regardless of time - what else would their employees be doing - leaning on a shovel, looking into a hole - trying to look busy!?!?!
 
Hi

I cannot provide an answer for this thread but have a related query.

Just at the tail-end of having an extension completed which involved disconnecting and reconnecting to a Private Drain running at the back of a number a terrace of houses.

The location where the builder reconnected back into is 2-3 foot from a boundary wall, the "connection" comprises of a hole in the main drain pipe, with a manhole built around and up. The manhole has three pipes draining into it, two rainwater from the roof gullys and the main waste pipe.

I have concerns around how this has been left, given the location to the boundary wall and the depth of the manhole there will definitely be no ability to rod this drain using traditional flexible rods.

The architect, who did the drawings, for the extension has had a look and says it is okay but also says that it would require an engineers report to properly assess it.

Any advice on who I could get to check this out in order to ensure that it has been done correctly enough that it will not cause me problems ? do dublin city council/corporation inspect new connections into drains ?

I do not want to make final payment to builder unless i know all is okay.

I have yet to check the neighbours up-stream but I expect worst case I could rod from there if the need ever arose ?

Any experience/advice welcome ?

thanks

TC
 
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