House Extension on Wayleave?

[RyanM]

Good afternoon,

 

I am hoping to build an extension to the side of my house and have a few questions.

 

1. I bought the house as a new-build. It is part of a small housing estate (5 properties) built on a greenfield site in County Louth. On the Planning Portal, the proposal for the estate shows the 'Site' as the entire development; as such I am unsure exactly which parcel I own and can build on.
2. Where I am looking to build the extension, there is a 7m wayleave below which is a 150mm concrete pipe in concrete surround. This connects to the existing storm mains in a public path outside the site. From my research, I believe an application would need to be made to Uisce Eireann by filling out a 'Building over or near an Uisce Eireann Asset' form. Is this correct?
3. Who has access to maintain this pipe? Is it Uisce Eireann, or another utility company and are they currently responsible for maintaining it, as opposed to the original developer? 
4. Is it possible to divert such a pipe, and if so, is this costly?

 

I have attached an image showing the wayleave and a pink area highlighted a rough footprint for the extension.

 

Any advice is much appreciated. 

Kind regards

Ryan

Edited November 2, 2023 by RyanM

[Conor]

If the sewer is adopted, it would be UE who you'd apply to and would need to maintain access. I assume you own the land? 

 

I don't rate your chances to be very high, but you can only try!

 

Diversion possible but you'd need neighbouring landowner to agree and new wayleaves established. This will take >6months. 

[Temp]

On 02/11/2023 at 15:06, RyanM said:

am unsure exactly which parcel I own and can build on

 

Get a copy of the title plan off the land registry web site. 

 

Beware scammers who add a mark up and get it from the same site. Last i looked the real website only charged £5-£10.

 

I suspect your boundary is the red line on the drawing you posted.

 

I think you might be able to divert the pipe along your side of the boundary around the proposed extension. 

 

If they wont allow a build over I would work out what separation a diversion would give and get a plan drawn up for their approval.

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Temp

[RyanM]

Thanks for both replies.

 

Following the advice, I have found the site boundary on Land Direct (I own the land yes, but it was built as part of a newbuild development and all drawings on the Planning Portal show only 1 redline boundary; that of the overall development).

 

In reply to Temp, I thought this would not be possible as the pipe is part of a 7m  wide wayleave. Surely the wayleave needs to be maintained? There would be room to divert the pipe around a proposed extension, but not to leave a 7m wayleave...

[ETC]

For what its worth I think you are flogging a dead horse.

 

The wayleave is there so that if anything goes wrong with the pipe the authority responsible for the maintenance can get to the pipe with relative ease without having to knock down your extension. I appreciate you own the land but your home was sold to you with this condition attached.

 

In answer to moving the pipe - again flog that dead horse. You'll need a shit ton of cash, a shed load of time and a miracle.

 

Convert your roof space - it will be cheaper or put an extension onto the back of the house.

[Temp]

44 minutes ago, RyanM said:

In reply to Temp, I thought this would not be possible as the pipe is part of a 7m  wide wayleave. Surely the wayleave needs to be maintained? There would be room to divert the pipe around a proposed extension, but not to leave a 7m wayleave...

 

The normal rule is no building within 3m of a pipe but that rule that does get broken by build overs and sometimes they allow closer (1.5m for example).

 

You won't really know until you ask about a build over. I think a diversion might be possible but as the pipe is in concrete that's not an easy task. They also tent to want manhole access where there is a change of direction so might need two of those as well.