Were you told about the missing service rights when you bought?
Find out which searches, title documents and purchase records may show what was known, what your lender required and what advice you received.
Explore the missing service-rights guide →The water runs. The drains work. The lights come on.
Then you try to sell, and the buyer’s solicitor asks a question you may never have considered:
Do you have the legal right to use—and repair—the pipes or cables crossing someone else’s land?
Suddenly, services that have worked without difficulty for years are holding up the transaction.
Missing easements or service rights often come to light during a sale or remortgage. A drain may cross neighbouring land without a recorded right. The title may allow a pipe to remain but provide no right of access when repairs are needed. An extension may have been built over a sewer without evidence of the water company’s consent.
The fact that a service works in practice does not mean the necessary legal rights and consents are in place.
That distinction matters to a buyer and their mortgage lender. They need to know not only that the property has working services, but that those services can lawfully remain, be used and be reached when something goes wrong.
If you have only discovered the problem now, look back at your original purchase:
- What did the drainage and water search reveal?
- Which service rights did the title grant or reserve?
- Did your conveyancer investigate the actual route of the pipes?
- If an extension or other structure stood over or close to a sewer, did your conveyancer check the water company’s consent?
- Did your conveyancer explain how the position might affect a future sale or remortgage?
Your original mortgage does not, by itself, answer those questions. Equally, a difficulty today does not automatically mean that your conveyancer made a mistake. The contemporary records, the enquiries undertaken and the advice given all matter.
A buyer’s assertion that a build over agreement is missing should be checked against the drainage search, the actual survey wording, the date of the extension and the status of the affected pipe. Building Regulations approval does not establish that water company consent was obtained, but the absence of a document does not establish that such consent was required. The underlying drainage arrangement must be identified before indemnity insurance or contact with the water company is proposed.
If the problem has only surfaced now, records from your original purchase may help establish what your conveyancer knew, investigated and explained.
Read When I Bought’s guide to missing service rights to understand what may be causing the delay, which purchase records could help and how to arrange an initial conversation about what happened when you bought.
What did the mortgage lender require when you bought?
For an explanation of why the original lender and transaction date may matter, read The Road Is There. The Pipes Work. But Do the Legal Rights Exist?
Historical lender requirements concerning missing easements can be researched using the Lexsure Lender Archive absence-of-easements page.
This article provides general information only and is not legal advice about any property, transaction or potential claim. Rights affecting pipes, drains, cables and sewers depend on the title, the physical arrangements and the circumstances of the property. Water-company procedures and mortgage-lender requirements can differ and change. Obtain advice from an appropriately qualified professional. Time limits may apply to legal claims.