Richard_C
Established Member
In England the rules about maintaining drains changed a few years ago. Up until the change householders were responsible for drains up to where they joined the main sewer. If 2 houses 'joined' before that, there was scope for dispute. Now it's clear, the drainage provider (normally same as water company, but here in Cambridge its split - Cambridge Water supply, Anglian remove) is responsible from wherever 2 or more houses 'join' regardless of where that is. Where I live, 2 houses join under a manhole cover on the drive of one of them, each householder has to deal with any issues on 'their side' of that, but the long stretch beyond that is Anglian Water's responsibility.
The OP should find that any future issues from his manhole onwards now become the drainage providers responsibility, so he may have less to worry about than he does now. If the 5 new houses join into a single drain before it goes under his land, the whole lot is the drainage authorities responsibility apart from the short stretch from his house to the manhole - normally easily d.i.y. rodded if the rodding covers are in the right place.
Our house was built mid 80's along with 2 others and 2 refurbished cottages. There are 3 key manhole covers/junctions, each on someone's property. The deeds mirror one another and are clear - each of us and the original landowner (although its all freehold) have right of access with notice, access not to be unreasonably refused. To my mind I could reasonably ask that the garden is reinstated or that jack hammers aren't used at 4am, but if I say 'unless you pay me ££££' that would be unreasonable. There is a sub clause for no-notice access in an emergency, so if we were ankle deep in poop we can just get on with it. In practice we all get on and its never an issue. I own drain rods and have a map of all the drains so we help each other and call in Anglian Water if its 'downstream'. Its all flat around here and the fall is a bit marginal.
Key to all of this is what the deeds actually say. If the OP doesn't have a copy they can be purchased from the land registry or maybe the mortgage holder if you have a mortgage will have a set (they used to, I suspect its all electronic now). If you look for land registry make sure its a .gov, there are impostors who top the list in google searches.
It's also worth re-visiting the planning portal. The water/drainage authority is a statutory consultee. If you look under consultations, or sometimes under documents tab - you need to dig - you might find their response to original and changed plans. It might be anodyne or it might tell you something. If there is nothing there you can email the planning officer and ask where it is.
I suspect older properties have nothing in the deeds, very new ones probably give the developer and his dog the right to access any time on any particular whim and dig up your living room floor if they so choose (modern big estates are built for the benefit of the builders not the owners). Ours as described above is a half way house.
If the deeds do give you right to refuse then there is the 'ransom strip' thinking which depends on your personal values - there is no 'right & wrong'. In our village a local charity is trying to build 8 affordable (in perpetuity, local exemption scheme) social rent houses, not as part of a commercial development, and if they needed access to my garden I wouldn't dream of asking anything more than that they re-instate. If it were Berkley homes I would get what I could and give it to the housing charity!
So - find the deeds, find the consultation comments on the planning portal. Just in case they start digging, take a few photos (on some cameras and phones you can set 'date stamp' on) so you have a starting point if they leave a mess.
If you want to get angry about the whole state of the housing market (where prices are set by what people can pay/borrow, not cost +) look at the annual report of the big house builders. Tot up the total pay, bonus and share options of the Directors and divide by the number of houses they delivered. In many cases every first time buyer is paying a lot (4 figures +) just for that, let alone shareholder profit. How the boss of Berkeley managed to cash £23 million in share options in one year a couple of years ago when they build fewer than 10,000 houses defeats me. But that's another topic altogether.
The OP should find that any future issues from his manhole onwards now become the drainage providers responsibility, so he may have less to worry about than he does now. If the 5 new houses join into a single drain before it goes under his land, the whole lot is the drainage authorities responsibility apart from the short stretch from his house to the manhole - normally easily d.i.y. rodded if the rodding covers are in the right place.
Our house was built mid 80's along with 2 others and 2 refurbished cottages. There are 3 key manhole covers/junctions, each on someone's property. The deeds mirror one another and are clear - each of us and the original landowner (although its all freehold) have right of access with notice, access not to be unreasonably refused. To my mind I could reasonably ask that the garden is reinstated or that jack hammers aren't used at 4am, but if I say 'unless you pay me ££££' that would be unreasonable. There is a sub clause for no-notice access in an emergency, so if we were ankle deep in poop we can just get on with it. In practice we all get on and its never an issue. I own drain rods and have a map of all the drains so we help each other and call in Anglian Water if its 'downstream'. Its all flat around here and the fall is a bit marginal.
Key to all of this is what the deeds actually say. If the OP doesn't have a copy they can be purchased from the land registry or maybe the mortgage holder if you have a mortgage will have a set (they used to, I suspect its all electronic now). If you look for land registry make sure its a .gov, there are impostors who top the list in google searches.
It's also worth re-visiting the planning portal. The water/drainage authority is a statutory consultee. If you look under consultations, or sometimes under documents tab - you need to dig - you might find their response to original and changed plans. It might be anodyne or it might tell you something. If there is nothing there you can email the planning officer and ask where it is.
I suspect older properties have nothing in the deeds, very new ones probably give the developer and his dog the right to access any time on any particular whim and dig up your living room floor if they so choose (modern big estates are built for the benefit of the builders not the owners). Ours as described above is a half way house.
If the deeds do give you right to refuse then there is the 'ransom strip' thinking which depends on your personal values - there is no 'right & wrong'. In our village a local charity is trying to build 8 affordable (in perpetuity, local exemption scheme) social rent houses, not as part of a commercial development, and if they needed access to my garden I wouldn't dream of asking anything more than that they re-instate. If it were Berkley homes I would get what I could and give it to the housing charity!
So - find the deeds, find the consultation comments on the planning portal. Just in case they start digging, take a few photos (on some cameras and phones you can set 'date stamp' on) so you have a starting point if they leave a mess.
If you want to get angry about the whole state of the housing market (where prices are set by what people can pay/borrow, not cost +) look at the annual report of the big house builders. Tot up the total pay, bonus and share options of the Directors and divide by the number of houses they delivered. In many cases every first time buyer is paying a lot (4 figures +) just for that, let alone shareholder profit. How the boss of Berkeley managed to cash £23 million in share options in one year a couple of years ago when they build fewer than 10,000 houses defeats me. But that's another topic altogether.
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