San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 4 posts · 0 votes
Hi BP Community,
My name is Andrew from San Diego, CA. I’m hoping you could give a guy some guidance.
I recently found a property on a hill with a storm water drain on the front street. I did some research and discovered the reinforced concrete pipe slopes under the side yard of the property to a main on the backstreet. The 24” pipe is about 10’-0” below ground and about 5’-0” away from the house. The side yard has a permanent retaining wall and a slab.
Do you have any experience with a city water pipe running through a property? In the event the city needs to provide maintenance will there be an issue since there is a permanent structure over it? Should the seller disclose information in regards to the pipe? Are there any written agreements the city does for utilities like these ? Will insurance companies take this into consideration? Is it an issue for resale? Any other risks to consider?
Architect · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 244 posts · 101 votes
6y
If you can check the title report, you can see if there is an easement on the property for the pipe. Utility easements are not uncommon and the ones I've personally encountered, the City would not allow any type of permanent structure on them. That's not to say you never can build on them, it may depend on who the pipe and easement belong to, but that is my experience. An owner may have built the retaining wall w/o permits and/or did not know of the pipe. If there is an easement it could potentially be an issue if maintenance is necessary.
Architect · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 244 posts · 101 votes
6y
If you can check the title report, you can see if there is an easement on the property for the pipe. Utility easements are not uncommon and the ones I've personally encountered, the City would not allow any type of permanent structure on them. That's not to say you never can build on them, it may depend on who the pipe and easement belong to, but that is my experience. An owner may have built the retaining wall w/o permits and/or did not know of the pipe. If there is an easement it could potentially be an issue if maintenance is necessary.
My name is Andrew from San Diego, CA. I’m hoping you could give a guy some guidance.
I recently found a property on a hill with a storm water drain on the front street. I did some research and discovered the reinforced concrete pipe slopes under the side yard of the property to a main on the backstreet. The 24” pipe is about 10’-0” below ground and about 5’-0” away from the house. The side yard has a permanent retaining wall and a slab.
Do you have any experience with a city water pipe running through a property? In the event the city needs to provide maintenance will there be an issue since there is a permanent structure over it? Should the seller disclose information in regards to the pipe? Are there any written agreements the city does for utilities like these ? Will insurance companies take this into consideration? Is it an issue for resale? Any other risks to consider?
Thank you in advance!
I'll second what Colin wrote. Easements such as this are common, and we often are compelled to grant them as conditions of new development projects. It should be shown on Title. Buyers rarely notice or care about things like this - as long as it's not in an area of the property where someone may logically want to build an addition or other permitted structure, it will already be disclosed at resale through the title report and shouldn't be an issue.
Investor · Clairemont, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
It's not uncommon...especially in SD and especially in the mid-city, downtown and uptown areas. They stuck drainage wherever the canyons and hills sloped which in some cases has resulted in them being 'cross country'. As far as the real impact, it can depend on what you want to do with the property, if you have a discretioanry review the City will ask you to relocate the utility...which is often cost prohibitive. But just because they ask doens't mean you can't get them to let it go. I have a project in Golden Hill that has an 8" sewer completely underneath an existing building...we haven't had to move it...yet...but may end up needing to...the devil is in the details.