Septic tank emptying

toni_ · 22 January 2019 at 10:07PM

Hiya, hoping someone can help. We are a family of 5 (2 children in nappies) in 1 cottage and the property next door is a family of 2. We share a septic tank with our next door neighbours, they had it emptied last week and put a note through the door saying we owe £100. I really don’t think it’s fair for us to pay the full amount! But I’m unsure how much to pay, we previously never had to pay for it as the previous occupier next door use to have someone do it free of charge! My husband is pretty sure it’s in the deeds that the cost has to be split 50/50, would it be fair to pay just £50? I don’t want to fall out with the next door neighbours but money is also very tight at the moment on maternity pay and I don’t want to pay more if we shouldn’t be. Thanks for any advice!

Tahlullah · 22 January 2019 at 10:15PM

The split of the bill will be in the written agreement / deeds.

You should request a copy of the bill and then proceed with whatever the written agreement says is your liability. 50/50 is normal.

toni_ · 22 January 2019 at 10:20PM

Thanks very much, I didn’t know how it normally works and really don’t want any arguments over it. Many thanks

Cardew · 22 January 2019 at 10:21PM

Why on earth do you feel you should pay less?

With 5 people in your household, against 2 in the other property, you are using the tank far more than your neighbours. I think they have a far better argument to pay LESS than you.

matelodave · 22 January 2019 at 11:14PM

I agree with Cardew - you should pay more than next door as you are putting more waste into the tank. Which, I've no doubt will increase when the little ones grow out of nappies.

I'm sure you'd feel pretty aggrieved if the situation was reversed and there were more people living next door than in your house putting more waste into the tank.

Do you actually know how much it actually cost to get the tank emptied perhaps £100 is your portion of the bill rather than whole amount. You need to discuss it with your neighbour.

How long have they been there compared to you, have they been there long enoug to put anywhere near as much waste into the tank asyou have, or have they recently moved and found the tank needed emptying.

In which case it would be unfair for them to shoulder even 50% of the cost.

toni_ · 23 January 2019 at 7:42AM

Cardew wrote: »

Why on earth do you feel you should pay less?

With 5 people in your household, against 2 in the other property, you are using the tank far more than your neighbours. I think they have a far better argument to pay LESS than you.

I don’t think we should pay less not at all, if you read my post I thought we should pay at least half or more.... I was just wondering what to do.... this site sure ain’t how it used to be

Cardew · 23 January 2019 at 10:07AM

toni_ wrote: »

I don’t think we should pay less not at all, if you read my post I thought we should pay at least half or more.... I was just wondering what to do.... this site sure ain’t how it used to be

Well your first post is unclear.

If they leave a note saying you 'owe £100' and the deeds say it should be a 50/50 split, then it is reasonable to assume the total bill was £200. - obviously check.

Septic tank emptying

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