Drainage and septic tanks
The water-company plan shows a public sewer crossing the lawn and the surveyor did not trace it. Why does the plan not become a CCTV survey?
The plan does not become a CCTV survey because a plan is a drawn record of a route, and a camera survey is a look inside the pipe. The water-company plan shows a public sewer crossing the lawn. The surveyor did not trace it on the ground and did not film it. The survey has not confirmed the line, the depth or the condition. Putting the plan in the pack does not switch on a camera. The drawing stays a drawing.
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?
Public sewers are shown so that buyers and solicitors know a company pipe may cross the land. That knowledge matters for building, for access and for whose pipe it is. It is not a report on cracks, roots or falls inside the sewer. The home survey did not lift covers to follow that line and did not measure a route across the grass. The plan's line is the water company's record, to be read with the solicitor.
Ask the solicitor what the plan means for building on the lawn and for the water company's rights. If you need the pipe's condition, commission a camera survey rather than squinting at the plan. Do not tell a lender the survey traced or filmed the sewer. It did not. The plan and a CCTV report would be two documents. You currently have the first.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you leave the sewer untraced on the ground?
- Is the water-company plan still only a plan, not a camera survey?
- Have you avoided stating a condition for a pipe you did not see?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the water-company plan as a plan.
- Ask the solicitor what the sewer across the lawn means for the land.
- Commission CCTV only if you need the pipe's condition.
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 lawn has no manhole, does that disprove the plan?
No. A missing cover on the lawn does not redraw the water company's record, and the surveyor did not trace the sewer. The plan has not become a camera survey either way. Absence of a lid is not a survey of the pipe.
Can the survey move the sewer line to suit an extension?
No. The survey did not trace the pipe and cannot relocate a public sewer on a drawing. Where you may build is a question for the solicitor and the water company. The plan stays a plan. It does not become CCTV, and it does not become a consent.