Cesspit - How much hassle?
Discussion
Lotobear said:
i'm not fully conversant with the Welsh Regs but if you look at the link I posted, it might possibly be okay if it's an existing discharge which has been in place since before 2010 but it might still need to be registered?
You’re right! The owner has gone through paperwork and discovered he has an exemption granted because it was operational prior to 2010. So it sounds like the run-off from the septic tank just goes straight into the stream and is allowed to do so.Looking at the site-I’m not sure whether I, water treatment plant could even be installed that close to the stream under current regulations so it may be that the existing system is the one the house is stuck with for good. But at least it’s legal!!
Actual said:
Mark Lewis said:
But at least it’s legal!!
Legal now.Check that there is no requirement to update to meet current regs when a property ownership changes.
Future legislation may require the owner to upgrade the system.
Mark Lewis said:
No requirement to upgrade on change of ownership...
I don't know if this is relevant but the TA6 Law Society Property Information Form (4th edition 2020 - second revision) I had to complete when selling recently asked as follows...12.5 Is sewerage for the property provided by:
(a) a septic tank? Yes No
If the property is in England and you answered Yes to question 12.5 and your septic tank discharges
directly into surface water, you must do one of the following as soon as possible:
• connect to mains sewer
• install a drainage field (also known as an infiltration system) so the septic tank can discharge
to ground instead
• replace your septic tank with a small sewage treatment plant
You must have plans in place to carry out this work within a reasonable timescale, typically 12
months.
I don't know how serioulsy legal this would be.
If it's polluting the stream, it could get nasty.
It's probably quite feasible to pump the waste to a treatment plant uphill from the house.
My Brothers neighbours are having to do this after confrontation involving landowner downstream.
The cost I'm not sure about. I think it's been bundled in with a lot of JCB activity moving the drive and stuff making the total between £10k and £20k.
Which is something you might negotiate on an expensive house purchase but a lot of cash to find from savings if you're retired and not wealthy,
And I've seen diggers in much more inconvenient places than that patio...
It's probably quite feasible to pump the waste to a treatment plant uphill from the house.
My Brothers neighbours are having to do this after confrontation involving landowner downstream.
The cost I'm not sure about. I think it's been bundled in with a lot of JCB activity moving the drive and stuff making the total between £10k and £20k.
Which is something you might negotiate on an expensive house purchase but a lot of cash to find from savings if you're retired and not wealthy,
And I've seen diggers in much more inconvenient places than that patio...
OutInTheShed said:
If it's polluting the stream, it could get nasty.
It's probably quite feasible to pump the waste to a treatment plant uphill from the house.
My Brothers neighbours are having to do this after confrontation involving landowner downstream.
The cost I'm not sure about. I think it's been bundled in with a lot of JCB activity moving the drive and stuff making the total between £10k and £20k.
Which is something you might negotiate on an expensive house purchase but a lot of cash to find from savings if you're retired and not wealthy,
And I've seen diggers in much more inconvenient places than that patio...
Yup. Pumps are quite common but the work can be quite an upheaval to say the least. It's probably quite feasible to pump the waste to a treatment plant uphill from the house.
My Brothers neighbours are having to do this after confrontation involving landowner downstream.
The cost I'm not sure about. I think it's been bundled in with a lot of JCB activity moving the drive and stuff making the total between £10k and £20k.
Which is something you might negotiate on an expensive house purchase but a lot of cash to find from savings if you're retired and not wealthy,
And I've seen diggers in much more inconvenient places than that patio...
It's best to leave the vendor to get the three quotes as at least they then appreciate the cost and mess and can start to come to terms with how any offer needs to proceed.
DonkeyApple said:
Yup. Pumps are quite common but the work can be quite an upheaval to say the least.
It's best to leave the vendor to get the three quotes as at least they then appreciate the cost and mess and can start to come to terms with how any offer needs to proceed.
Impeller pump with a float switch is about £2k for a decent one, plus running armoured cabling to it, then it needs 1" or 1.5" pipe plus a trench dug for that, then that simply puts it somewhere else. so youd need a treatment plant, plus a drainage field or do discharge treated water to the stream....It's best to leave the vendor to get the three quotes as at least they then appreciate the cost and mess and can start to come to terms with how any offer needs to proceed.
bennno said:
DonkeyApple said:
Yup. Pumps are quite common but the work can be quite an upheaval to say the least.
It's best to leave the vendor to get the three quotes as at least they then appreciate the cost and mess and can start to come to terms with how any offer needs to proceed.
Impeller pump with a float switch is about £2k for a decent one, plus running armoured cabling to it, then it needs 1" or 1.5" pipe plus a trench dug for that, then that simply puts it somewhere else. so youd need a treatment plant, plus a drainage field or do discharge treated water to the stream....It's best to leave the vendor to get the three quotes as at least they then appreciate the cost and mess and can start to come to terms with how any offer needs to proceed.
It's also not hugely unlikely that at some point in the future, home owners not connected to mains will be asked to declare cesspit or septic tank with evidence and if the latter, evidence that nothing is going into a watercourse etc. It's really only going to get tighter.
The fair argument is that the vendor has benefited from the savings of a septic tank and has the responsibility to ensure their property is fit for sale or just hope to find a buyer with a clueless conveyancer and that the EA is happy to 'oblige'.
Hopefully regulation and enforcement will indeed get tighter.
Including when we entrust our turds to SW Water.
£20k is within the 'negotiation range' on a >£500k property.
Not so easy for a small cottage with not much garden.
At the end of the day, many if not most older properties need some work done to suit the new owner and you have to look at the offer on the basis of total cost to get where you want to be.
Here in the South West, mains drainage is comically expensive,
Other solutions may work out cheaper.
Including when we entrust our turds to SW Water.
£20k is within the 'negotiation range' on a >£500k property.
Not so easy for a small cottage with not much garden.
At the end of the day, many if not most older properties need some work done to suit the new owner and you have to look at the offer on the basis of total cost to get where you want to be.
Here in the South West, mains drainage is comically expensive,
Other solutions may work out cheaper.
DonkeyApple said:
Yup. Quotes around here range from £25k upwards and the work makes a right mess if the drainage field needs to be on the other side of the property.
It's also not hugely unlikely that at some point in the future, home owners not connected to mains will be asked to declare cesspit or septic tank with evidence and if the latter, evidence that nothing is going into a watercourse etc. It's really only going to get tighter.
The fair argument is that the vendor has benefited from the savings of a septic tank and has the responsibility to ensure their property is fit for sale or just hope to find a buyer with a clueless conveyancer and that the EA is happy to 'oblige'.
Although I agree with it being tightened up - it’s totally beyond the pale that the EA will worry about one septic tank while allowing the sewage companies to pump millions of litres of * into our rivers and seas unabated!It's also not hugely unlikely that at some point in the future, home owners not connected to mains will be asked to declare cesspit or septic tank with evidence and if the latter, evidence that nothing is going into a watercourse etc. It's really only going to get tighter.
The fair argument is that the vendor has benefited from the savings of a septic tank and has the responsibility to ensure their property is fit for sale or just hope to find a buyer with a clueless conveyancer and that the EA is happy to 'oblige'.
I would definitely have a chat with some local groundswork guys before committing - some of the numbers mentioned here are very definitely at the "we saw you coming" end of the scale.
I get that some areas of the country are more expensive than others but the treatment plant suitable for direct watercourse discharge itself should be no more than £5k (see link below) and the install really isn't that complicated. I really can't see how it's even possible to spend another £20k+ getting it installed.
https://www.tanks-direct.co.uk/waste-water-tanks/s...
I get that some areas of the country are more expensive than others but the treatment plant suitable for direct watercourse discharge itself should be no more than £5k (see link below) and the install really isn't that complicated. I really can't see how it's even possible to spend another £20k+ getting it installed.
https://www.tanks-direct.co.uk/waste-water-tanks/s...
Mark Lewis said:
I’m on the verge of buying a property In the middle of nowhere-in common with everything I have been looking at, it has no mains drainage but unlike everything else I have seen (which had septic tanks or newer water treatment systems). This one has a sealed cesspit.
The estate agent has dismissed this as no big deal and something that only needs emptying once every six months or so but online it seems to be that this old style sealed tank system is a money pit (in addition with being a pit of the obvious!)
Long term the plan would be to ditch it and install a water treatment system-it is an old mill so can discharge into the stream from that. But is it going to be grief in the meantime or worrying about nothing? Also, when I do switch over Would it be a case of just seal up the old tank and leaving it forever and then put the water treatment plant somewhere else or does the old system need ripping out at this stage, I don’t know when the cesspit was built but I would imagine it was a very long time ago.
Property is pretty perfect in every other way - If you like things in the middle of nowhere ??
It's pretty much exactly as you describe. Don't worry about it and get the switch to treatment plant in the near future (providing you have somewhere to discharge - a package treatment plant can discharge to water courses / ditches etc if you install correctly with a post plant sampling inspection chamber and get the EA consent to discharge application in place The estate agent has dismissed this as no big deal and something that only needs emptying once every six months or so but online it seems to be that this old style sealed tank system is a money pit (in addition with being a pit of the obvious!)
Long term the plan would be to ditch it and install a water treatment system-it is an old mill so can discharge into the stream from that. But is it going to be grief in the meantime or worrying about nothing? Also, when I do switch over Would it be a case of just seal up the old tank and leaving it forever and then put the water treatment plant somewhere else or does the old system need ripping out at this stage, I don’t know when the cesspit was built but I would imagine it was a very long time ago.
Property is pretty perfect in every other way - If you like things in the middle of nowhere ??
).Having spoken to a few people now it seems this might not be as big a problem as I thought. Switching it, at some point in the future future, to a sewage treatment plant is a great idea but I thought it would not be possible due to the rule that a plant needs to be 10 m from a water course and 7 m from the building. It turns out these are just guidelines and Can be ignored when no other option exist. So I could just replace the existing septic tank with a treatment plant and discharge straight into the stream.
Mark Lewis said:
Having spoken to a few people now it seems this might not be as big a problem as I thought. Switching it, at some point in the future future, to a sewage treatment plant is a great idea but I thought it would not be possible due to the rule that a plant needs to be 10 m from a water course and 7 m from the building. It turns out these are just guidelines and Can be ignored when no other option exist. So I could just replace the existing septic tank with a treatment plant and discharge straight into the stream.
perhaps, is the property in Wales or England?Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff