To get neighbours septic tank off my land?!

[Ladyoftheapple]

My neighbours septic tank is in our back garden.
It is all a bit odd but basically before we moved in, the prior owner owned both houses.
Anyway, we recently replaced the manhole cover on top as it was quite corroded but in doing so could see that their septic tank was pretty full with poo (its comings probably about 100cm from the top). About a month ago we spoke to the neighbour to say it needed emptying. He also said he wanted to look as he doesn’t feel like he’s seen it before 😳 since then, he has not done anything about it. We have messaged since and he said he forgot and he will come around and look on the weekend which he did not.

As this is on our land and no benefit to us other than the hassle of asking him to empty it which he is yet to do!! Would it be wrong to get him to sort his own on his land?! Is this even possible?! I have young children running around in our garden. He had it emptied once when he moved in which was about 5 years ago 😳

Agree. It might not even be possible, a new system has to comply with a lot of regs and there may not be a suitable location on his land.

Septic tanks are mini sewage disposal systems and have soakaways that would not be obvious. They operate by being full of liquid so the bacteria can get to work. There may be nothing wrong with it at all.

please get advice from a solicitor asap. its really easy to do the wrong thing and find yourself with all sorts of fines and other issues.

Before you pay for a solicitor, do your research and ask your neighbour to do his.

They don’t need frequent emptying, just because you can see it doesn’t mean it’s full.

It’s a system.

We had one and the local water authority came on a schedule and then billed us. We never gave it a moment’s thought. Never booked it. It just happened.

So ask your neighbours what the system is before assuming there’s a problem.

Had septic tanks in 4 different houses. If septic tank is working properly it should hardly ever need to be emptied. It’s only if it stops working properly you need to empty more often. Keep the bacteria alive to do the work. Don’t use bleach.
I was in a house for 10 years and never needed to empty it.

Just make sure you don’t build anything that blocks access for emptying.

Wait till you’ve seen it done before throwing up a climbing frame or a shed!

What drainage arrangements have you got for your own house? (Am presuming you're not on mains drainage, if he's got a septic tank?)

What if anything do the deeds say about the neighbour's obligation to empty the tank? Presumably someone checked this out when you bought the house?

If it's a septic tank, rather than a cess pit, then, as PP have said, bacteria in the tank will break down waste and disperse the liquid via spreaders into the ground some distance away from the house/tank. If it's filling up, it means the dispersal/breakdown isn't working for some reason - has anything changed on the land around the houses?

We ran into problems with our last septic tank when the field that the tank dispersed into was ploughed for the first time in decades, and the spreaders were damaged, meaning the water was trapped in the pipes and was backing up. It didn't end well.

This will be similar to an easement in that case. You need a solicitor but having been in your neighbours position broadly we agreed to the deeds being changed only if the equivalent of you paid all associated costs and the value of the legal right. It was hugely costly for the equivalent of you.

Firstly check the easement/legal paperwork - does it specify their responsibility to empty and frequency?. Talk to the neighbour (gently) again - do they know what system it is, do they know how often it should be emptied? You could try to prompt them & give the details of a waste removal company and say that you can be around to arrange access for them (& maybe the person who comes to empty can fill you in). Regulations have changed recently and to sell they would likely need to upgrade if it’s not a modern unit…

This would infuriate me, and I don't blame you for being cross, @Ladyoftheapple. As a first step, could you contact him and tell him that, unless he arranges for the tank to be emptied as soon as possible, you will be getting it done, and chasing him for the cost?

Then I'd suggest contacting a solicitor who understands these sorts of issues, and looking at whether you can legally evict his septic tank from your land.

@Ladyoftheapple has said the poo is coming out, so surely that's a hazard?

I can't find where the op said that just that it was a Metre from the top

What do your deeds say about :

Who is responsible for maintaining it.
Who is responsible for emptying it.

Are you sure it is not shared ?

Sounds like you’re confused as to whether it’s a cesspit or a septic tank. A septic tank does not require regular emptying, they need ‘desludging’, but that’s only every few years.

As others have said, there’s likely an easement so you would not be able to get it moved. And it’s only an environmental health concern if it’s leaking.

Unless I have missed something, the OP said that the poo was a metre from the top. She didn’t say it was coming out.

That might be the normal level for that particular tank. They do need the sludge pumping out from time to time depending on use, but the interval could be as long as five years without any issues.

@BaronessEllarawrosaurus @Expletive apologies, I read it as " it's coming out about 100cm from top" 🤦🏻‍♀️

A metre from the top is still quite a lot of room, particularly if there has been raining heavily. A few dry days should see the soak away do it’s job and the levels go down.
We’ve got an anaerobic mini sewerage system and get it emptied every 6 months (5 people) serviced every 12 months. Had to do quite a bit of work to it when we moved in as it had been neglected but it works brilliantly now!

Even then. All you can do is take legal action to ensure that he gets it emptied.

Keep in mind that it’s every 3-5 years it should be emptied depending on a number of factors. It can be longer. And you’ve not actually described anything at this point to suggest it’s full.

If there’s a metre of space left it doesn’t need emptying!

There’s no reason for him to move it if you were sold the land knowing it was there. It will be a tanker coming to empty it every five years or so but otherwise it won’t affect you.

I’d contact Environmental health.

It's always better not to look in a septic tank! No harm in checking when it was last emptied though, and if it's more than 5 years it's probably no bad thing to ask your neighbour to get it done. It's fairly common for them to be on other people's land if they're old.

If you bought the house with all these measures in place and were made fully aware of them, you have absolutely no grounds to ask him to move it. If it's an old one, that isn't possible anyway. They are usually a series of three pits, cement lined. The first 2 usually have access via manhole covers. Ours stretched over a good 12-15ft. Also, if it's in your garden but for his exclusive use, that's very likely because there was nowhere suitable within his own boundaries to put it. There are very tight controls over where the soakaway for a septic tank is allowed to be and this very much depends on the lie of the land. These rules also apply to the modern bottle or flask types. If you feel it needs emptying just because you don't like the idea of your kids playing on top of a pool of poo (understandable) that's one thing, and nothing you can do anything about - he could have objected to you fiddling about with his manhole cover and peering into his tank. If you feel it needs emptying because it smells (a properly maintained tank doesn't) or it starts to actually overflow, of course you go back to him and if he doesn't sort it immediately, you contact the environmental health people. Good luck.