Septic tank, anyone?

[Florence1960]

I’m looking at buying a property which has a septic tank. I don’t know anything about them but have been trying to do a bit of research. It is under the block paved driveway.
Any comments advice gratefully received!
*aibu to even consider it?

Brilliantly helpful, thank you all very much. Apparently there’s a soakaway in the garden. The tank is at the front, under the drive.

Thanks so much, owner has assured me that there is a soak away in the garden and having read your advice and a bit more on the net, I understand why that is a good thing.
Is it sometimes a problem as far as getting a mortgage though? And I’m wondering if the owner could take out insurance against the tank failing.

No mortgage issues for us. A huge number of rural properties are on septic tanks. I think we would have heard about it by now if there were problems getting a mortgage on a house with a septic tank.
If you think about it, they're quite happy giving mortgages on houses built on flood plains!

We're rural and have one it's not an issue.

You do need to be mindful about what goes into it, it's not like a mains sewer where fat and other rubbish isn't your problem.

We use eco products, once a month a bacteria tablet goes in. Look for things that are septic tank friendly so bacteria isn't killed off.

Don't listen to people that say if they're working correctly they never need emptying that's bollocks.
Sludge builds up in the bottom that needs pumping out, ours probably once every couple of years.
Cost to pump out is around £150

Speaking from recent experience, please get a survey done on the tank and soakaway before you exchange. We nearly didn't, and were tempted to go with our vendor's assurances that it's all working fine. Luckily we had it checked (tank, pump and soakaway all needing replaced) so we managed to get a price reduction. I think it's so "out of sight, out of mind" for some home owners. By law (afaik) the vendors have to be able to give you a lot of detail about the system. Ours couldn't unfortunately. We still bought the house though, in January, and love it. Good luck!

PS one of the quotes we've had for replacing the whole lot is £13,000. I suspect we can get it done cheaper but it's not an amount to take lightly.