Shared Septic tank which isn't shared

km1500

Probably a silly question, but have you investigated installing your own septic tank going forward ?

It may be expensive but equally may add value to the house (compared with sharing one)

circlemaker

ha, er yes....as there is no side access to the rear of the house it would mean digging up our sitting room - the drain guy reckoned about £30k as a structural engineer would be needed, we'd have to rip up the carpet, clear the room, etc etc....the way it has been left today, they are going to run a pipe off the current soak away pipe and reconnect to the shared septic tank....I am bracing myself for the financial crippling which is coming.....

ProDave

circlemaker said:

ha, er yes....as there is no side access to the rear of the house it would mean digging up our sitting room - the drain guy reckoned about £30k as a structural engineer would be needed, we'd have to rip up the carpet, clear the room, etc etc....the way it has been left today, they are going to run a pipe off the current soak away pipe and reconnect to the shared septic tank....I am bracing myself for the financial crippling which is coming.....

HOLD ON THERE.  That does not sound right at all. "they are going to run a pipe off the current soak away pipe and reconnect to the shared septic tank..."

Why are they even touching that?

Your problem is the drain connection from your INTO the septic tank is broken.  That is the fault you have to fix.  Don't at this stage fix anything else.

The mind boggles where you are going to the toilet at the moment while you procrastinate about what to do and who to blame.  you should be getting the guys to dig up your blocked drain and re lay the blocked section.  That is all you need to get you going again (pun intended)

km1500

maybe do a quick drawing / plan, photo it and then post it here ?

Grumpy_chap

circlemaker said:

Yes cr1mson, I do not see how I could have seen that both the surveyer and an independant builder could both make the wrong call on the fact that they both said the waste water went to next doors septic tank....I know I am looking for a sympathetic outcome (rather than a somewhat imo pathetic outcome) from an insurer but if everyone around me, even my neighbour, the previous owner and two professionals and the drain guys didn't know where the waste water was going, it feels a little like I am being punished for something I also simply could not have known about?

circlemaker said:

propertyrental - I looked at the surveyers report on water drainage last night and it ALL appears to follow the correct procedure - thankfully, there are notes on how the run off water is treated by Southern Water at a facility. Not too sure what the smelly ditches in the surrounding lanes indicate though...

Maybe the builder and surveyor have been influenced by the information already provided (as per the deeds)...

The information that there is a public drain in the road at the front of the property could change things a bit.  One assumes that was not there when the properties were originally built, otherwise all the properties would be connected to that.

If I understand what you are saying correctly, you believed that the waste water went to a shared tank in the neighbour's garden.
However, you now discover that at least 8 (possibly up to 15) years ago, the pipe to the tank was blocked (bricked / sealed up as an intentional act, not just blocked with waste).

Where has the waste from your property gone for the 8 years you have lived in the property up until the backing up event that occured recently?
The volume of waste you would have generated in that time would be far more than the pipe held.

Before doing anything to connect to the neighbour's tank again, or any other expensive solution, you really need to understand where the waste water actually flows.
It may be connected to the public sewer in the front of the house, even if the route is not obvious.
Could it be possible that the drain pipes from a number of the properties were adopted by Southern Water under statutory adoption?
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-advice/sewers-and-drains/transfer-of-private-sewers

I don't think you can lose anything by calling Southern Water to report the blockage and risk of internal flooding. 
Don't tell them anything about next door's septic tank, bricked up pipes or whatever. 
Just say that you don't know where the waste flows - that is true - you don't.
If they ask questions, simply that you moved in 8 years ago, never had a problem before, think there is a sewer in the road as there are covers and things, and now the toilet is not flushing correctly.
Southern Water will either provide you some more information (which will be helpful to you) or may come out and investigate if they don't know either.

Grumpy_chap

ProDave said:

HOLD ON THERE.  That does not sound right at all. "they are going to run a pipe off the current soak away pipe and reconnect to the shared septic tank..."

Definitely does not sound right.

"Soakaway" is for surface water, roof drainage and will usually run to a hole filled with bricks / stones / gravel.

"Septic Tank" is for taking the water from the foul sewer.

Do not connect the soakaway to the septic tank - it will really cost in pump outs.

circlemaker

Right some more info for you. The house was build in the 30's and it shared a Septic tank with next door, the pipe went from the rear of our house to the rear of next door (the two semi detatched houses adjacent also did that but decided to get their own tanks put in the front). The guy who was here 13 years ago decided he would build and extension over the pipe (and cap it at the point our kitchen was put in) at the back and reconnect to another pipe which goes to a soak away. We have been here 8 years and the people we bought from were here for 5. There are no drain covers out the front, but all the run off water from the septic tank goes to them, the deeds show this with a diagram and report. 
From what I understand the guy who built the extension just wanted to sell, make a load of cash and get out, leaving is some time for it to be someone elses problem - when you flush the toilet the water in the gully which goes to the soak away moves showing it is connected. To unblock the pipe means ripping up the kitchen floor and foundations of the extension to reach where the brick has been put in. For what ever reason no certification was obtained as it appears he didn't tell any building regulators.

circlemaker

There is no sewer, as I understand there is the septic tank which collects the solids, next to that is another chamber with the run off water which then feeds into the main pipe located at the road where all the houses have a similar arrangement.

circlemaker

Here is my diagram so everyone knows the lay of the land

loubel

So for several years all of your waste has just been discharged directly into your garden? That's disgusting as well as illegal. I'd be quite concerned about the state of the ground in your garden after so many years and am surprised the pipes didn't block sooner!

It sounds like a massive nightmare and you'll have to get thorough advice from a specialist to ensure that if you do reconnect to the septic tank that it can be made compliant.

Good luck!