Drainage and septic tanks
A manhole is in the drive and the surveyor did not lift it. What of the drain run is absent from the report?
Everything inside that drain is absent from the report, because the manhole in the drive was not lifted. The cover can be recorded. The chamber, the benching, the flow and the direction of the pipes were not seen. No camera was used, and the survey has not tested the run. The report cannot describe a drain it did not open. What is missing is the view that lifting the cover, or a later drain survey, would have given.
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?
A manhole cover is only a lid. Under it, a chamber shows which way the pipes run, whether water is moving, and whether the benching is broken or silted. None of that is visible from the drive surface. Leaving the cover down is an honest limit, often because the cover is seized, heavy or not part of the instructed inspection. The absence is the whole of the buried run served by that chamber. The report should not colour in pipes it did not see.
If you need the run described, ask for the cover to be lifted on a further visit, or instruct a drain surveyor with the right lifting gear. Tell the solicitor the drive chamber was not opened, so a seller assurance that the drains were checked is not this report. The survey has not passed the drain under the drive. It has recorded a cover that stayed shut.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which cover in the drive did you leave unlifted?
- What of the chamber and pipe direction is therefore absent?
- Did any camera, or any other test, stand in for lifting it?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the unopened manhole as an unseen drain run.
- Do not infer the pipes under a cover that stayed down.
- Have the chamber lifted if you need that run described.
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
If the cover is seized, is the run still absent?
Yes. A seized cover explains why it was not lifted. It does not show you the chamber. The benching, the flow and the pipe directions remain unseen. The report's gap is the same whether the lid was left from choice or because it would not move.
Does a dry drive mean the drain underneath is sound?
No. The drive surface does not display the pipe. A dry day can sit over a broken drain, and a wet patch can have another cause. The survey did not lift the cover, so the run's condition is simply not in the report.