In message , at 23:03:20 on
Fri, 6 Apr 2012, Charles Ellson remarked:
Compulsory purchase powers are available to local and national
government and to various other bodies under a range of legislation
and for varying purposes. Property will not always pass by purchase,
e.g. some of my drains are now the property (along with responsibility
for repair and upkeep) of the local water company due to recent
legislation affecting common drains.

The correct term is "sewer", not "drain".

And when the ownership is transferred, do the water company also own any
relevant manholes and manhole covers, or just the pipes?

Out of interest, before the transfer, did detached houses own (in a
property sense) the pipe under the pavement and road connecting to the
public sewer - because they were responsible for it. I don't remember
them being "shown in red" on my deeds.
--
Roland Perry