Drainage and septic tanks
A drain runs under both gardens and no sharing agreement is in the pack. Has the survey created that agreement?
No. The survey has not created that agreement. A drain runs under both gardens, and no sharing agreement is in the pack. The visit can note the line it could infer from covers or from what it was told. It cannot invent a deed, decide who maintains the pipe, or grant a right to drain across the other garden. The missing agreement stays missing. The report records a shared-looking run and an empty file.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Pipes that serve more than one house often rely on an easement, a declaration, or adoption rather than on neighbourly habit. The surveyor does not draft those documents and did not camera the drain unless the report says a camera was used, which this question does not. Seeing two gardens over one line is a physical observation. Responsibility, access for repair and who pays are legal questions. They are not filled in by describing the route.
Ask the solicitor to search for any easement or sharing deed and to raise the gap if none is found. A lender may want the right to drain documented. Do not invent a distance the pipe must keep from a boundary. The home survey has not measured a legal offset and has not written the agreement. If the drain itself needs testing, that is a separate drainage instruction, not a clause this report can add.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What evidence suggests the drain serves both gardens?
- Which agreement was looked for and not found in the pack?
- Does the report say the drain was camera-surveyed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Leave the sharing agreement uncreated.
- Ask the solicitor to search for any easement or deed.
- Keep any later drain test separate from this note.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Does long use by both houses write the agreement?
No. Long use, even if the seller describes it, is not a sharing agreement in the pack, and the survey has not created one. Habit is not a deed. The solicitor asks whether a right is documented. The report only records a drain under both gardens and the absence of that paper.
Was a water test carried out along that shared run?
No. The visit did not test the drain. It noted a run under both gardens and that no sharing agreement is in the pack. A water test or a camera survey would be a different instruction. The survey has not created the legal agreement and has not certified the condition of the pipe.