Septic tank sharing

jem7997

Hi

We are a detached property with a septic tank on our land which was shared with next door neighbour. 
The neighbouring property has been derelict for some years and now sold to developers who have applied for planning permission to build 2 large houses on the land.
We are concerned about the septic tank usage. Do we have any grounds to oppose planning permission based on the fact that potentially 2 properties instead of 1 could be connected to our septic tank?
Can we close off the septic tank to our use only and insist they get their own?
We have 3 weeks to put in any objections and concerns

Many thanks

GDB2222

What do the deeds (ie LR docs) say? 

Tigsteroonie

First of all, check their planning application (council's generally have an online portal) and the supporting documents. That'll tell you whether they intend to share your septic tank or will be making other arrnagements for sewerage (a tank of their own) - which will eradicate the 'could be connected' in your concern. You might find you are worried unnecessarily.

GDB2222

The planning application ought to detail the arrangements for sewage. What does it say?

user1977

The planners are likely to require the drainage arrangements to be adequate before the properties can be occupied.

Whether the neighbours can legally increase the use of the existing tank isn't a planning matter though, that's going to be down to what your titles say.

Woolsery

I think it's unlikely that any houses built on the adjoining plot will want to share a septic tank with you. These days, waste treatment plants are usually specified in areas not served by the mains and their cost represents only a fraction of the overall development budget.

You can object, but probably not on the grounds that these houses would overload the existing tank since they won't be using it. You certainly can't cut off the existing house's drainage facility, which will probably be mentioned in your (and their) title documentation.

The_Unready

user1977 said:

The planners are likely to require the drainage arrangements to be adequate before the properties can be occupied.

Whether the neighbours can legally increase the use of the existing tank isn't a planning matter though, that's going to be down to what your titles say.

As said above.

We had a similar issue a few years ago when our neighbours who share a treatment plant with us (located in my garden) submitted a planning application which added two bedrooms to their property.

This took the number of 'users' of the plant (which is based on the total number of bedrooms at the properties sharing the plant) over the manufacturer's limit for the size of our plant.

We submitted a comment to that effect on the planning application and subsequently spoke directly to the planning department.

In short, they didn't want to know as they deemed it not to be a planning matter. We also tried the building regs team as well but got nowhere with them either.

We now have a sewage system whereby if either of us wants to sell up in the future any buyer that commissions a drainage report will discover that it's over-limit, potentially giving that buyer the opportunity to significantly down-value their offer! 

Op - I know you've said you have a septic tank rather than a treatment plant, but I suspect that you'll come up with the same indifference from the council as we did.

Woolsery

The_Unready said:

user1977 said:

The planners are likely to require the drainage arrangements to be adequate before the properties can be occupied.

Whether the neighbours can legally increase the use of the existing tank isn't a planning matter though, that's going to be down to what your titles say.

As said above.

We had a similar issue a few years ago when our neighbours who share a treatment plant with us (located in my garden) submitted a planning application which added two bedrooms to their property.

This took the number of 'users' of the plant (which is based on the total number of bedrooms at the properties sharing the plant) over the manufacturer's limit for the size of our plant.

We submitted a comment to that effect on the planning application and subsequently spoke directly to the planning department.

In short, they didn't want to know as they deemed it not to be a planning matter. We also tried the building regs team as well but got nowhere with them either.

We now have a sewage system whereby if either of us wants to sell up in the future any buyer that commissions a drainage report will discover that it's over-limit, potentially giving that buyer the opportunity to significantly down-value their offer! 

Op - I know you've said you have a septic tank rather than a treatment plant, but I suspect that you'll come up with the same indifference from the council as we did.

That's rather different from brand new large houses though. If I decided to build 2 new properties I don't think I'd go down the route of giving them old septic tank drainage on someone elses land!

ProDave

Not so much the planners but building control.

They will want to see adequate drainage.  Each property depending on the number of bedrooms has an assumed occupancy of a certain number of people.  the septic tank will have been sized to cope with the output from a certain number of people.  

So if the new development has significantly more bedrooms then the property it is replacing, then the tank will need updating with something larger.  I doubt they have any right to demand the tank on your land is upgraded.  So they will either have to make drainage alterations on other land, or start negotiating with you (££££££) to allow them to upgrade the tank on your land.

Woolsery

ProDave said:

Not so much the planners but building control.

They will want to see adequate drainage.  Each property depending on the number of bedrooms has an assumed occupancy of a certain number of people.  the septic tank will have been sized to cope with the output from a certain number of people.  

So if the new development has significantly more bedrooms then the property it is replacing, then the tank will need updating with something larger.  I doubt they have any right to demand the tank on your land is upgraded.  So they will either have to make drainage alterations on other land, or start negotiating with you (££££££) to allow them to upgrade the tank on your land.

Or they might think from the outset a premium price would not be forthcoming if they tried to sell houses with drainage to an old, outdated system that could have a 50 year old drain field on non-owned land.

The_Unready

Woolsery said:

The_Unready said:

That's rather different from brand new large houses though. If I decided to build 2 new properties I don't think I'd go down the route of giving them old septic tank drainage on someone elses land!

My post was to illustrate to the op the potential indifference of the planning department and building control to their plight, rather than to imply that we faced exactly the same issue in terms of sewage treatment..