Septic tanks?! When might they be a problem?

Lurkingtoposting17

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Our last house had its own septic tank - and leach field - and in the 3.5 years we owned the property we never had it emptied. Nor were there any issues during that time. The previous owners had it emptied immediately prior to completion, iirc.

Emptying every six weeks definitely sounds peculiar, OP.......

I've never encountered a septic tank or cesspit or any off mains drainage, so after seeing it on the TA6, we have been googling furiously and that is basically the conclusion we have come to, either its a Cesspit, or a faulty Septic Tank.

It concerns me that the filling in of their form is deliberately vague, or maybe I am just suspicious.

My dad is a plumber who has worked in the area I am buying for his whole life, and he has never encountered a property with a septic tank or a cesspit so it really seems unusual, especially since the drainage search said its connected to the mains as does the TA6.

Utterly baffled, but I have instructed the solicitor to find out everything they can and get the maintenance records.

If its a cesspit I am pulling out. No ifs, no buts - I cannot find one person who suggests its anything other than a money/sh*t pit! :rotfl:

If its a septic tank and they can't provide maintenance records I will ask for them to pay for the cost of the survey/split the difference of the survey costs.

If they can provide the maintenance records I will bear the cost myself for my own peace of mind, because an emptying every 6 weeks suggests the system is faulty and needs replacing/fixing and I would make it clear that any remediation works would be at their cost prior to exchange...

It is all so odd, and has given me a really bad feeling about this (I think home buyers are very sensitive!) Its utterly frustrating as I was experiencing some difficulties that made me want to delay exchange, which all resolved as of yesterday and now this.

Be careful what you wish for I guess!

Browntoa

there was one near me , only house in the road that had one , probably built prior to the rest of the houses being built so was no sewer at the time


next owner paid for mains connection (not sure if there was a price reduction to reflect )

G_M

Lurkingtoposting17 wrote: »

The contract pack states that the property is connected to the mains. It has no answer to the questions do you have a septic tank, cesspit or sewage treatment plant.

So you have mains water supply.

And they've declined to say how the mains drainage works by not answering!

If I were you, I'd arrange another viewing. If the owners are present, ask them to show you the drainage system. Make sure you check both the clean water drainage (ie off the roof) and the grey water (ie sewerage, sinks etc).

If only the agent is present, explore!

In parallel, get some formal responses via your solicitor.

warehouse

G_M wrote: »

If I were you, I'd arrange another viewing. If the owners are present, ask them to show you the drainage system. Make sure you check both the clean water drainage (ie off the roof) and the grey water (ie sewerage, sinks etc).

If only the agent is present, explore!

In parallel, get some formal responses via your solicitor.

Exactly this, but I'd be insisting the owners are present and would be armed with a list of questions.

Davesnave

G_M wrote: »

If I were you, I'd arrange another viewing. If the owners are present, ask them to show you the drainage system. Make sure you check both the clean water drainage (ie off the roof) and the grey water (ie sewerage, sinks etc).

Bear in mind that the details of roof drainage may be largely unknown . It won't go to the tank, but to soak-aways, perhaps long-forgotten.

I have lived in my property since 2009 and carried-out extensive work on it, but I still don't know where the majority of the soak-away pipes go. I found one soak away underneath the conservatory, which has now been moved beyond the statutory 5m distance. As to the rest, it's a mystery where they end-up!

Heather2603

A septic tank should always be emptied in full the old wives tale of leaving 6 inches of sewage is just that a tale and can cause a huge build up of solids causing further problems down the line. For every person who hasn't had a tank emptied for 10 years with no problems there are several others with horrendous problems caused by leaving it 3/4 years. Every site is different.

From what you describe OP it certainly sounds like a cesspit. Average desludge costs depending on location are between £125 per thousand gallons and £225 per thousand gallons.

With regards to changing the system we've done a few tank installations where the vendor has paid for it but the funds have been held by the solicitor and the buyer has moved into the property whilst the work is being done. Not ideal but depending on how much you like the property is something to consider.

Lurkingtoposting17

Thanks so much Heather.

We are waiting for them to go back to solicitor with answers still, I also called the EA to try and get some who were shocked to hear it wasn't on mains (like i said previously we aren't at all rural so they wouldn't have even thought about asking I imagine!) I don't hold out much hope as I've also now found out from further inspection of the documents a sale has previously fallen through (they've redacted and resigned parts of the TA6) and changed estate agents to around the time the sale looks to have fallen through to an estate agent a few towns over, which seems odd (but the estate agents in our town... 3 of them are next door to each other and all friendly) pure speculation but from the way the documents have been misleadingly filled in, and the fact the EA is shocked and they changed... I'm guessing they were hoping it wouldn't be spotted and knew their last EA had to disclose what they knew (call me suspicious...)

I've also found out I'm in a chain which they told me I wasn't.

My solicitor has said, wait for answers but I have a bad feeling about this one. I tend to agree.

Sad though as I've found out from my mortgage advisor that the 5 x salary with 10% deposit mortgage I have currently, has been discontinued by Santander. So my maximum lending is now 4.75 x salary, so I need to save another £15k now. That will put off purchasing plans for at least 6 months.

Feeling very despondent today - but grateful for the honest advice and support of the lovely MSE community! :j:j

Will let you know what they come back with it and when !!

Lurkingtoposting17

Update

So apparently my vendor was confused and filled out the form wrong... and the property 100% has on mains drainage...

But first the EA told me I had been sent the wrong form for the wrong property and the vendor has two for sale, and when I pointed out well no, it has correct details such as x,y,z he said well he got confused and muddled it up.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?! As I'm scratching my head about what to make of it all and the EA just said "he's honestly a lovely man and definitely wouldn't lie to you...."

Well that's reassuring ! :rotfl:

Davesnave

If any doubt remains, a quick glance at the water authority's bill will show if the current owner is paying sewerage charges.

G_M

If I were you, I'd arrange another viewing. If the owners are present, ask them to show you the drainage system. Make sure you check both the clean water drainage (ie off the roof) and the grey water (ie sewerage, sinks etc).

If only the agent is present, explore!