Advice please, think we have to pull out of our sale

Cakeguts

I think pulling out is your only option now because you can't trust the sellers not to have done some other bodge somewhere in the house that they "forgot" to mention that will eventually cost you a lot of money to put right.

AdrianC

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Cess pits require little to no maintenance.

Except for very regular emptying.

Cesspits are different to septic tanks.
Cesspits store all water, which then needs regular emptying.
Septic tanks filter and release clean water, and the sludge occasionally needs emptying.

If this is a "non-rural" location, then it would make a lot of sense to investigate connection to mains drains.

AnotherJoe

mistree wrote: »

Thank you, will look through all the paperwork and correspondence and check nothing was said but I’m 99.9% sure I would have picked up on it. Will be putting a complaint in, thank you for the info and link.

Is it a general consensus that this is enough to make sensible people pull out? It’s not salvageable now is it

I would but not because of the septic tank, because of the potentially disruptive and expensive work that might be needed merely to inspect the work that was done on the extension let alone any remedial work. Absolute worst case it might need underpinning or who knows what.
Just leave.
And enjoy the baby !

mistree

ACG wrote: »

If you would have known about it, would you have still offered?
If so, what would you have offered?
If not, then time to pull out.

I am not sure I would want the hassle of sorting it out every however many months/years in addition to repair work/replacing if/when the time comes.

No i dont think we would have offered, just as this house with the timing was meant to be just a cosmetic touch up. My partner is a tradesperson, so at some point we would want a doer-upper but this was not it, with two children under two and me on mat leave this was meant to be a lick of paint and new floors.

I think most of the replies have echoed my initial feelings. Going to get the work quoted to get the building regulations up to scratch this weekend from a relative, as well as the cost for cesspit maintenance and emptying, and the cost of a full survey in case there is anything else lurking and deduct from our offer - then think about whether we even want the house if they did deduct said amount. Willing to walk away if they reject and may do so anyway without lowering our offer, as the cesspit will likely make it more difficult for us to sell down the line but see what our relative says.

Read through an email from our solicitor which had been forwarded on by theirs in response to a question asking if the cesspit is in good condition and free from leaks. Included was an email sent direct from the seller saying they're willing to let us pay to check if that's the case. Cheeky f'ers, shows their stand point on the whole issue and makes me want to pull out even more.

pinkteapot

Make sure it's a cesspit, not a septic tank. They're different and there are new rules in place for septic tanks (not cesspits) and houses can't be sold unless the septic tank meets the new regs.

With septic tanks, you have to be really careful what goes down the loo. As well as the obvious (no sanitary products, wipes, ear buds etc - loo roll and human waste only), you're limited in what cleaning products you can use.

AFAIK those limitations don't apply to cesspits. Obviously you're not meant to flush the items listed above down any toilet, but some people do and if you're one of them, talk to the cesspit company you ask about maintenance costs to find out how strict you need to be with what goes down a cesspit. Even if you're really careful, you've got kids who may not be and you have to tell visitors, so it's a bit of a pain.

Personally, unless you HAVE to move right now, I'd be seriously put off because in a non-rural location it will make it hard to sell in future. In rural areas where no-one's on mains drains these things are expected. In an urban area people would expect to be on mains, and the other houses you're competing with when selling presumably are connected.

Onemanandtwolittleladies

As above, you need to check whether it’s a cess pit or a septic tank as they are completely different, although people confuse the two and use one when they mean the other.

If you’re still interested in the house then investigate if there is mains drainage locally. If so, I’d get some quotes for connecting and potentially knock the cost, plus a little more for inconvenience off my offer.

AnotherJoe

mistree wrote: »

No i dont think we would have offered, just as this house with the timing was meant to be just a cosmetic touch up. My partner is a tradesperson, so at some point we would want a doer-upper but this was not it, with two children under two and me on mat leave this was meant to be a lick of paint and new floors.

I think most of the replies have echoed my initial feelings. Going to get the work quoted to get the building regulations up to scratch this weekend from a relative, as well as the cost for cesspit maintenance and emptying, and the cost of a full survey in case there is anything else lurking and deduct from our offer - then think about whether we even want the house if they did deduct said amount. Willing to walk away if they reject and may do so anyway without lowering our offer, as the cesspit will likely make it more difficult for us to sell down the line but see what our relative says.

Read through an email from our solicitor which had been forwarded on by theirs in response to a question asking if the cesspit is in good condition and free from leaks. Included was an email sent direct from the seller saying they're willing to let us pay to check if that's the case. Cheeky f'ers, shows their stand point on the whole issue and makes me want to pull out even more.

I am surprised you are continuing.
Is this just because you are part way through? If you wouldnt have bought it knowing these issues even with a reduction why proceed now?
Whilst all that is going on (going to take weeks) I'd certainly start earnestly looking elsewhere anyway.

mistree

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I am surprised you are continuing.
Is this just because you are part way through? If you wouldnt have bought it knowing these issues even with a reduction why proceed now?
Whilst all that is going on (going to take weeks) I'd certainly start earnestly looking elsewhere anyway.

I dont think we are, i just didnt want to make a rash decision and write it off immediately as we did love the house and mentally i was half moved in

My gut was to pull out as soon as the cesspit was mentioned, let alone the building regs, and i imagine that would be potential buyers first reaction too. It would be such a drop we'd need to be convinced to proceed i think its very unlikely they would take it, but should have an idea of this after a quick viewing with our relative this weekend so make a final decision then.

We will be booking viewings for the weekend which i think will put things in perspective for us. The house, considering its extension hasn't been signed off, is not under priced compared to whats about and id rather take my chance on something new now. Thanks everyone for your advice and help on this thread, its helped make things clearer for us on how to proceed.