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We had this on our last house...
First thing we discovered is that plans are useless for exactly pinpointing where the pipes are. The only way we found where they were precisely was to pay dyno-rod to put a camera down there and then map it out, cost a few hundred quid.
Our pipe was actually a metre away from the house, exactly where we wanted to build an extension. We went through the process of getting permission from the water company to build over, essentially this involved giving them a lump of money, they then did a check on the condition of the pipe, thankfully it was OK, so they gave us permission to build over the top of it. For building regs sign off we then had to dig the footings of the extension below the pipe, which was 2m down and bridge over the pipe, which was a pain, but only cost us a bit more in labour and concrete.
Probably got all the docs somewhere if you want to see them, this wasn't in London but sure the approach would be the same.
Basically even if a pipe is in the way, you can still build over it, just a few more hoops to jump through.
Sam_w-
Cheers. That is really helpful. At least it sounds like it doesn't kill any development off the bat. This is just outside London fwiw.
I might give my builder mate a call and talk it through with him.
The Estate agent is good, but ultimately he is the sellers agent. I have asked him if he can find out. Apparently one of the sellers used to be an aeroplane mechanic or something so is pretty handy - so it's possible he knows.
Our solicitors are lols. I'm hoping that they'll get their shit together now the 2nd property stamp duty rush has pasted.
hugo7
The drainage search has shown there is a public sewer within the boundary of the property. Our solicitors are a bit shit.
Does anyone know of a way to find out where on the property it is located? - ie at the front or rear or the property, etc.
The big thing would be weather it would prevent an extention at the rear.
Also as the place we're looking at is ex local authority there is a restrictive covenant which looks to require council consent for any alterations. Has anyone heard of this before and how strictly it enforced.
My land law is a very rusty but I'm assuming getting a LA to agree to remove a 40yo covenant won't be easy.