Buying a House with a Septic Tank

Davesnave

martindow wrote: »

It sounds as if the leach field could be on land that belongs to someone else. This is not uncommon, but you do need to be sure that you have a right to access it in case repairs or replacement of the pipework should be necessary.

On the other hand, if you are reasonably careful avoiding too much bleach and so on, septic tanks with occasional emptying are much cheaper than paying the water supplier's drainage charge.

It doesn't sound like the water supplier's service would be an option.

The permissive right to drain on someone else's land can be acquired after a certain period, which may be 25 years. However I'm not sure if renewal of the leach field system, usually required after an extended period, would count as a new installation. If it did, then it would have to meet newer regulations.

If the drainage is onto one's own land there's less of a problem. We renewed our leach field a few years ago, saying nothing to anyone about it.

I can see that it would be good to prove this is a discharge to a watercourse, so the vendor picks up the tab for conversion to a mini treatment plant, but I'll bet if that happens it'll be more costly to maintain than a septic tank.

JP08

martindow wrote: »

It sounds as if the leach field could be on land that belongs to someone else. This is not uncommon, but you do need to be sure that you have a right to access it in case repairs or replacement of the pipework should be necessary.

Thanks - but I actually think the opposite applies here - the adjacent house's tank is on the land of the house we're looking at - and the layout indicates that, if there is/are leach field(s) and not a direct discharge, it/both is/are probably under the garden.

As I said earlier, an old installation. With all the legal ramifications that come with that.