Drainage easement

greatcrested

AClark2 said:

Davesnave said:

AClark2 said:

Davesnave said:

If the tank and the drain had been there 20 years, the neighbours would have an easement by prescription and there would probably be nothing you could do about it. How do you know they're 'new' and are you able prove that? It would be advisable to be sure of facts before attempting to go after the previous owner.

The storm drain would normally have been visible when you viewed, so assuming it wasn't concealed somehow, you might have asked about it then.

If the installation of the septic tank and soak-away is relatively new, it won't need digging-up for some years, so perhaps things are not quite as gloomy as you're painting them. I'm sure you've noticed it's been a very wet winter and everyone's land is sodden right now.

The neighbours told us both are new as the previous one failed. This is where my worry that it will fail again comes from.  They went into detail about how and where they had to dig up the land a couple of years ago. Our land previously belong to their family member.

So it's reasonable to assume a tank and drain field has been there 20+ years and the neighbour has a prescriptive right to continue with them on the land. Your vendor must have known this, yet did they not disclose the fact on the PIF, as  required.

On the face of it, it seems you could pursue the vendor for non-disclosure of a material fact that reduces the value of the property, but success would depend on a court agreeing with a professional assessment of that reduction. You would have to be sure the amount likely to be awarded was worthwhile. What fraction of the land is affected?

Your situation mirrors mine in that I have a neighbour's drain field on my land which was not disclosed on the PIF. The  circumstances of the sale lead me to think the vendor had no knowledge or had forgotten about this, as it's at the other end of a 5 acre field. I didn't find it until the weather was very wet, and even then it creates only a small amount of inconvenience. It probably doesn't affect the value of my property at all.

The existence of something like this is fairly common in the countryside. Any assessment of a reduction in the utility of the land would have to include the proportion of it affected negatively, which in my case would be very small indeed.

If you think your land is unsuitable for septic tank drainage and you could show this through a professional investigation and report indicating significant pollution, there's a possibility that the Environment Agency might act on your behalf, but that would obviously ruin any relationship with the neighbour and might cause other problems for you.

The good news is that if the drain field was replaced properly, it shouldn't need similar attention for a long time.

...
We don't have as much land as you; a one acre plot. Which holds at least two/maybe three soak aways. I had plans for this space which now look unlikely,  which negates the purpose of moving here! However, as you say how I could evidence this in monetary terms is impossible.

A solution might be to install a Small Sewage Treatment system. They don't require a drainage field (soakaways are for rainwater only) so take much less space, provided you can drain them into a nearby ditch, pond, stream etc. They cost more than a septic tank, but you save the cost of building a drainage field, and if you shared the use with one or other neighbour that halves the cost.More environmentally friendly too.