Drainage and septic tanks
The seller has a drain CCTV from last year and the survey recommends a camera survey without commenting on that video. What has the home survey not watched?
The home survey has not watched the seller's drain CCTV from last year. It recommends a camera survey and does not comment on that video, so the footage is outside the inspection. A recording the surveyor did not view is not a finding about the drains under this house. The survey has not adopted last year's pictures, has not said they are still true, and has not itself run a camera. What it has done is flag that a drain survey by camera is still wanted. The old disc or link remains unwatched.
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?
Drain CCTV is a specialist look along the pipe. A home survey does not become that look because a seller owns a file from last year. Without watching it, the surveyor cannot say which run was filmed, whether the camera reached the boundary, or whether a crack on the tape is still the crack in the ground. Recommending a camera survey while staying silent on the video is a way of saying the video was not reviewed. Silence is not agreement with the seller's recording.
Ask the solicitor to obtain the video and its report if you want them in the pack, and keep them separate from this inspection. A drainage firm can film the run again, which is what the survey has asked for, rather than treating last year's pictures as current. Do not tell a lender the drains were camera-surveyed by the home survey. They were not. The survey only records that it has not watched the seller's film.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you watch the seller's drain video, or is it outside this inspection?
- Which drain run are you asking a later camera survey to cover?
- Are you making any finding from footage you have not seen?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the seller's last-year CCTV as unwatched by this survey.
- Ask the solicitor to keep that video separate from the inspection.
- Commission the camera survey the report recommends rather than relying on the old film.
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 seller says the video was clear, has the survey confirmed that?
No. A seller's description of a clear film is not the survey watching it. The report recommends a camera survey and does not comment on the recording. Clear, in someone else's words, is not a drain finding from this inspection.
Does recommending a camera survey mean the surveyor already saw a collapse?
No. The recommendation means the pipes were not filmed on this visit, and the old video was not reviewed. It is not a diagnosis of a collapse, a root or a broken joint. Those words would need a camera survey that has actually been watched.