CCTV Drain Survey in London

CCTV drain survey in London: what the price includes

• 01
  Recorded and mapped

  Full video, defect log and a sketch of the run with distances, yours to keep and to show anyone.

• 02
  Pre-purchase surveys

  The £165 that renegotiates house prices: drains are the expensive unknown under every older property.

• 03
  Recurring-blockage answers

  The third clearance of the same drain is the wrong purchase; the survey that ends the cycle is the right one.

• 04
  Insurance-grade reports

  Written to the standard claims handlers expect, with stills of each defect.

• 05
  What a drain survey shows

  A CCTV drainage survey puts a small waterproof camera into the pipe and films it from the inside. You see what the pipe is really like, not what someone guesses from the top of a manhole. It shows cracks and breaks, joints that have slipped apart, tree roots growing in, fat and scale narrowing the pipe, and dips where water sits. It also shows collapses, and pipes that were badly laid in the first place. The camera measures how far along the pipe each problem is, and a locator finds that spot from above ground. So if a repair is needed, any digging happens in one small place rather than all over the garden.

• 06
  When you need a drain survey

  There are three common reasons. Buying a house: a normal building survey does not look inside the drains, and older London homes often have clay pipes and nearby trees. Recurring blockages: if the same drain blocks again and again, something is wrong with the pipe, and clearing it one more time will not fix that. Subsidence or cracks in walls: a leaking drain can slowly wash soil away from under a building, so insurers often ask for a drain survey as part of a subsidence claim. A survey is also worth having before building an extension over a drain, so you know what is under there first.

• 07
  What you receive after a CCTV drainage survey

  You get the video recording to keep. You also get a written report with a simple plan of the drain run, the distance to each problem, a photo of each one and a plain-English note on what it means. The report says who is likely to own each length of pipe, because since 2011 many shared drains belong to the water company, not to you. If repairs are needed, they are listed with options and priced separately. You are free to use the report with any contractor, your insurer, a solicitor or a seller.

• 08
  A report a solicitor or insurer will accept

  Footage on its own is not much use to anyone. You get a written report with a plan, chainage to each defect, WRc-standard coding and a clear statement of who owns the length in question, which is the format homebuyer surveys and insurance claims are actually assessed on.

Local conditions we work around

A London survey is often about age and ownership at once. Much of the city drains through Victorian clay into combined sewers, so what the camera typically records is root intrusion at old joints, displaced sections and, in storm conditions, evidence of surcharge rather than blockage. The recording matters beyond the repair: pre-purchase surveys, insurance claims and disputes with a freeholder or a neighbour all turn on footage and a written report rather than on somebody's recollection.

Find your area

One rate card for all of these areas, with no extra charge for distance. Every area page lists the streets it covers.

CCTV drain survey in London, your questions