Is it normal to have 3 different houses drains running through your garden?

manda1205

We are buying our currently rented house, the landlord died and we're now buying from daughters. The house is a 1900 farm cottage, there are 4 in total. My mum and dad being next door. Our concern is that all 4 houses have all their drainage go into my mums septic tank next door. We have 3 and 4 drains run through the top of our garden and my mums kitchen drain comes into our garden nearer the house where ours then goes back into their garden. So basically we have all 3 other houses coming through our garden. Is this normal? We've already told them we're not happy about this, they suggest we all pay 1/4 share to mum and dad for maintenance and running costs, but what if work needs doing to the actual pipes in our garden, who's liable? I dont want people coming in my garden to unblock and maybe dig up if needed. We know they block a lot as we're always un-blocking and we know 3 and 4 do as well. We ideally want to have our own tank put in and re-route our drains to this, is it unreasonable to expect 3 and 4 to do this too? We know who's going to buy no4 and know he wants to put his own in, but we have no idea who will buy 3 and how long it will take to sell it. We thought maybe they could stipulate on sale that they have to put their own tank in within so many months but we dont know if thats too much to ask or if they'll even do it. Any advice from anyone would be great.

G_M

Pretty common, especially in rural areas or older properties. All my drains (soil and rainwater) run into my neighbour's garden. He has a septic tank which gets emptied once a year or so - we share the cost. (works out a lot cheaper than paying the water company).

Normally somewhere in the deeds of each property is a right to use the drains (or an obligation to allow the drains on your land) and ideally some arrangement for maintenance (ie share costs).

If the maintenance arrangement is not specified, then the best solution is to reach an agreement. If one or more property owner refuses to agree, ultimately the person with the drain /tank on their land may have to bear the full cost. However, if the right for other properties to use the drains is not specified, then potentially you could disconnect their drains (unless they agree to contribute to costs).

It all depends what the deeds say.

jjlandlord

This can happen, indeed.

manda1205 wrote: »

We've already told them we're not happy about this, they suggest we all pay 1/4 share to mum and dad for maintenance and running costs, but what if work needs doing to the actual pipes in our garden, who's liable?.

Once 2 drains join they create a sewer, in your case I guess this is a private sewer.
Even if below your garden I believe that one of your neighbours' drain is still his responsibility (there may be a covenant in the title that the drain can be there, but it is still their drain).
Then the responsibility for the sewer is divided among the people whose drains join to create it.

A link to DirectGov on the topic:http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/WhereYouLive/Streetcleaninglitterandillegaldumping/DG_10026174

Responsibility for drains
Homeowners or occupiers are responsible for a home’s drains, even if they go under someone else’s land or a road.

A private sewer carries rainwater and/or foul sewage from more than one property to the public sewer. The owners of the properties that drain into it are jointly responsible for its repair and maintenance up to the public sewer, including the connection. This means people are often responsible for pipes beneath land owned by somebody else, like a neighbour’s garden or the highway.

Responsibility for sewers after 1 October 2011
From 1 October 2011, water and sewerage companies will take responsibility for all private sewers and lateral drains that connect to the public sewer.
Water companies won’t take over responsibility for private sewers that:
are connected to a private pumping station and treatment works
carry water directly to a watercourse, like a river, or into the ground (for example, a soakaway)

You might need to check your situation from 1st October.

Werdnal

Yes this is a common occurence, especially where tied farm cottages all belonged to one landowner. We have a rural farmhouse, which was once owned by the local manorial estate, as were all the houses around us. Our septic tank was across the road in another house's garden, and our private water supply comes from the farm next door. There was also an "arrangement" for the neighbouring farmer to cross our land to get to one of his barns.

Our solicitor had a bit of a nightmare sorting it all out, as when the lord of the manor rented these houses to everyone, he made up the rules as he went along. Once all the freeholds began to be bought by individual owners, the rights of access etc, all had to be drawn up separately and included on each house's deeds. Ours includes access to the farm next door to maintain our water supply, and access to the neighbour's garden to empty the tank (we have since installed our own tank on our ground so this no longer applies).

It can be done and all tied up legally, but just make sure the deeds reflect who is responsible for what!

manda1205

Thanks for your help, so from what you've said 3 and 4 will be responsible for their drains, even though they run through our land. We think its unlikely there will be anything in the deeds about them, these houses had been linked to the farm for years, they are not on land registry, and have probably never been sold as they've always been the farmers (landlord sold farm but kept cottages a few years back). So basically we keep it as it is then and have to come to an agreement with mum for costs. jjlandlord - there uesd to be a big cess pit in mums garden (well still is) which all houses went to, but as this was leaking into a local pond environment agency said they had to put a new septic tank in. So landlord did this a few years back, so all 4 of us on this septic tank. Landlord used to pay for the electric and the emptying, so guess we'll have to split this as suggested. And any maintenence to the tank (already had the belt go a few times in the few years its been there).
Thanks again.
Thanks Werdnal - we will defintily be making sure that our solicitor is aware and has everything outlined.

tim9966

Nothing will change for them, as it only drains / private sewers running into a public sewer. As it running into a tank it will stay private.

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You might need to check your situation from 1st October.[/QUOTE]