Septic Tanks and Renting

PJF1971

Hi all,
I've been renting a property for 5 years and never had any issues with my LL. I was told on moving into the property by the letting agent that we had a septic tank and the emptying costs would amount to around £20/year billed by the LL. I had never received one until last week when my LL presented me with itemised bills backdated to 2014 at a cost of £300.

I have no issue with paying the costs for emptying the tank as I had fair warning although it would have been nice to have been presented with the bills a bit sooner!

What I'm querying is that the invoices presented to me detail repairs and maintenance of the tank along with emptying costs, rodding the pipes and something called Environmental Discharge Consent. Can anyone advise me whether or not I'd be obliged under a regular shorthold tenancy agreement to pay for these additional charges too?

My landlord has taken the line that as I am responsible for the Utilities associated with the property that these are my bills.

Thanks in advance.

AdrianC

If you're on a septic tank, then you don't pay the sewerage element of the water bill. Sometimes that'd be included in a tenancy, sometimes it wouldn't.

Who pays the other part of your water bill, the supply?

Repairs and maintenance to the tank would normally be the landlord's responsibility, however. I'd be surprised if they were anything but a trivial part of the bill - we paid £180 in May just to get our tank emptied once, no rodding or jetting of the pipes, so £300 for five years sounds like a bargain to me - I'm guessing the reason the bill's just been sent is that it's only been emptied that once in the five years...? Septic tanks aren't a monthly drip-feed DD payment thing... They sit there costing £0 for ages, then there's a real bill every now and then.

PJF1971

Thanks Adrian C. How often are you shelling out £180 and is it a shared tank or is it a tank you own exclusively?

To answer some of your questions:
I've been paying for the other element of the water supply from a regular mains supplier.

From what I can garner from the bills presented we share our septic tank with 19 other properties and we've been billed at least once per annum for emptying. The items aside from emptying in our overall bill (repair and maintenance, rodding, Environmental Discharge Consent) amount to around 40% of the total which is why I'm querying them.

Without the additional charges the emptying for five years comes in at around £170 which would certainly be closer to the £20/annum I was told it would cost initially.

Interesting to note that repairs and maintenance are normally the LL's responsibility - is that backed up by legislation? Just keen to meet my obligations and nothing more

G_M

I share my neighbour's tank.He gets it emptied every year or two costing around £130 which we share 50/50.

We also share any repair/maintenance costs.

As a tenant you should not pay the repair/maintenance costs though (see below) just the emptying.

I pay the water company for water supply, but not for sewerage.

Landlord & Tenant Act 1985

10 Fitness for human habitation.

[F9(1)]In determining for the purposes of this Act whether a house [F10or dwelling] is unfit for human habitation, regard shall be had to its condition in respect of the following matters—

repair,
stability,
freedom from damp,
internal arrangement,
natural lighting,
ventilation,
water supply,
drainage and sanitary conveniences,
facilities for preparation and cooking of food and for the disposal of waste water;

11 Repairing obligations in short leases.

(1)In a lease to which this section applies (as to which, see sections 13 and 14) there is implied a covenant by the lessor—

(a)to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes),

(b)to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation (including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences, but not other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity), and

(c)to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for space heating and heating water.

PJF1971

Thanks G_M. for the info.

So £130 per year or two (average twice every 3 years) = £260/ 3years/ 2 properties = £43.33/year/property with repair and maintenance included. Interesting to know.

G_M

I believe the new regulations require annual emptying but ...shhhhh!

And costs doubtless vary around the country so that's a guide only. The cost I quoted is for emptying only.

PJF1971

Ok gotcha, thanks. Recently our tank has been emptied twice a year so it looks like we're in full compliance! My LL is fine so I don't want to rock the boat, I just felt it was a bit cheeky to ask me to pay for manhole covers to be replaced and management/admin fees etc. etc.

AdrianC

PJF1971 wrote: »

Thanks Adrian C. How often are you shelling out £180 and is it a shared tank or is it a tank you own exclusively?

Probably every two-three years or so. Our own tank.

To answer some of your questions:
I've been paying for the other element of the water supply from a regular mains supplier.

Which would lean towards waste being your cost, too.

From what I can garner from the bills presented we share our septic tank with 19 other properties and we've been billed at least once per annum for emptying. The items aside from emptying in our overall bill (repair and maintenance, rodding, Environmental Discharge Consent) amount to around 40% of the total which is why I'm querying them.

Ah, that's a slightly different situation.

To my mind, rodding and discharge would be part of your usage cost. Repairs and maintenance would be part of the landlord's maintenance cost.

Interesting to note that repairs and maintenance are normally the LL's responsibility - is that backed up by legislation? Just keen to meet my obligations and nothing more

Same as any other aspect of the property.