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 😳

But it doesn't need emptying yet. It is working as it's supposed to.

Why should he pay for someone to come out to do a job that doesn't need doing?

I get that having your neighbours tank in your garden is irritating, but it was there when you moved in and knew all about it. I'm not sure why you now suddenly have an issue, or why you would expect your neighbour to pay thousands to have it relocated.

Now if it was overflowing, then that would be different.

Is there just one individual manhole to access it? Or are there any small vertical pipes coming out of the ground above or near it. Septic tanks don't normally need emptying. They are part of a system where the shite gets processed into water by bacteria. They normally look full because what's in the tank is mostly water that gets automatically slowly drained into the surrounding ground, with some sludge floating on top. That may be all you've seen and there's nothing actually wrong.

Not necessarily. I've only had to empty mine once in 20 years, and that was after one of the kids managed to block it and feck up the system. Other than that, it's never needed emptying and is completely odourless.

If it's all clear on the deeds, then you should have paid a lower price for your house, on account of you have a tank full of someone else's sewage on your land, and all the hassle that brings. That would put off a lot of buyers and bring the asking price down.
Yes it's causing problems for you now, but that's why you should have got the house cheap.

If you knew about it and didn't factor it in to the price you paid for the house, I'm afraid that's on you.

Oh for sure. It could be much longer! Sorry 3-5 years is the extreme end of often.

I think the cost to move it would be up to you.

You purchased it with the tank and I would investigate the cost to move it.

You shouldn’t be opening his septic tank and replacing his manhole cover. It may not need emptying for another decade. Just leave it be to do its grotty poo slurp thing. Trust me if you upset it by messing with anything it can get very gross very quickly. What you saw was probably the “crust” of a healthy shit soup.

Joint septic tanks can be a nightmare. DF has his joint septic tank in his neighbours garden due to it being a single property previously. Neighbour is also an arse about getting it emptied (the tanker has to have access across both gardens - easy and simple to arrange). The tank leaks into neighbours garden due to the land levels so DF doesn't understand why neighbour won't keep the garden clean for his grandkids to play in. Neighbour refuses to clear annually or even every other year, until it's obviously leaking, and part of DFs insurance (and presumably neighbours) is to ensure it's emptied regularly. If DF ever decides to sell he knows that part of the process will be declaring about the tank and providing documentation on when it was last pumped 😣

Your neighbour needs to realise that a septic tank will use a drain field, basically a series of pipes, set in small stones, with holes in the pipes that allow the liquid to soak away..

If the tank overflows, the solids go into the drain field and can block it, that can be very expensive to put right, the tank overflowing could mean sewage going back up into his house!

How often the tank needs emptying depends on its size and the number of people in his house... but a max 2 or 3 years to avoid the above.

If you lift of the cover, and see a fiber glass tube going down vertically and have a smaller manhole cover nr by for the drain field its a septic tank, other wise its some some sort of cesspit, which will usually have a method of getting rid of liquid... these can often go for years without being emptied as they can quite a bit bigger.

If there is no smell, then the tank is working properly, its normal for it to look full, thats the liquid.

You re stuck with this unless you pay for a tank on his land but why would he agree to that??

How do you know it’s not emptied when it should ? This varies from yearly to every 10 years

It can't be a cesspit or else he would have had to be emptying it regularly and you say it was last done 5 years ago. Must be a septic tank with a drainage field system. And even if it does get full, it will start to back up in to his house before it spills in to your garden due to where the level of the inlet will be.

This ^

I'd also be concerned that unless the OP's house deeds make it clear that it's the neighbour's responsibility then, because it's on the OP's land, it's ultimately the OP's responsibility and liability.

It may be the neighbour's shit but it's on the OP's land.

All this should have been clear at purchase

Even if he is not emptying it regularly like he is supposed to?

A properly functioning septic tank doesn't need regular emptying - mine hasn't been done in twenty years!
The liquid gets filtered and soaked away, and the bacteria breaks the solid waste down.

Jakers we had one put in by farming lads. Big job digging a deep hole putting in a very big tank. Then digging away soakaways. They threw in a pile of fish to get it working. Never needed emptying in 20 years. But we were very careful with bleach, etc. all five of us.

Down the road a shared tank needed emptying annually. Weirdly two single women.

Your neighbour will have to get it emptied.

It will drain off, it has to. All septic tanks have a soakaway somewhere. If they don't, it's not a septic tank, it's a cesspool and there's no way he'd do 5 years without emptying it. Cesspools are vanishingly rare nowadays and illegal in Scotland.

This. My parents have a septic tank and haven't once emptied it in 20 years - it soaks away. I don't think it requires maintenance either, I can remember a very smelly few days one summer when they had a cracked pipe but other than that it's done its thing!

Asking him to move it will be unbelievably expensive and may not even be possible. It's no different really to have someone else's wastewater pipe crossing under your property, and that affects the majority of properties!

That's not true. We had a septic tank that was installed before fibreglass tanks had been invented. I would imagine it was installed in the early 40s, or even before that, when our row of cottages, which had had communal gardens and a communal cess pit, were made more self contained, with private gardens and individual septic tanks. They were made of concrete and had a series of 3 chambers, stretching one after the other. Cess pits need emptying much more often because they have no filter and do not self-empty. They are literally tanks that gradually fill up with water and poo and when they're full, they're full.

My parents had a septic tank with a soakaway, and it did occasionally get backed up and stop draining - I remember dad having to get in and rod it out, and mum making him get changed outdoors afterwards!

We have a very old septic tank which needs emptied about once every 2-3 years. It costs about £150 each time.

In your situation @Ladyoftheapple Id arrange to have this done and put a letter through your neighbours door to tell him the date and the cost. If he doesn’t agree to pay, pay yourself and take him to the small claims court.

This will be a lot cheaper and easier than a protatcted Legal case trying to to get ut moved. Which you could easily lose and then be liable for his costs too.

My Parents had 1 for around 10 years and it was never emptied in that time
The locals told them that if they found a dead rabbit flattened on the road outside the house they shoudl chuck it in there to get the bacteria working.
It didn't smell and was never any trouble but you did have to be careful about using bleach

This isn’t good advice, op. You don’t know if the tank needs emptying (it doesn’t sound to me like it does) and you can’t take it upon yourself to decide that it does and expect your neighbour to reimburse you.
This is one of the problems with buying a property in this situation. But unfortunately, you were perfectly aware of the situation when you purchased, therefore it is what it is.
The only thing you can do is ask how often the tank needs de sludging and if it’s due to be done.

If there is legal paperwork stating he needs to maintain it then you need to seek legal advice about getting him to do so. Sounds a bit of a mess, didn’t the solicitor flag this before you purchased?

Just don’t do anything before asking the neighbours how it works. You don’t want to bugger up a perfectly good system- or annoy perfectly good neighbours- through ignorance.

You’ll have cheaper water rates because you aren’t on mains drainage. Nice!

Why? The OP has provided no evidence that it even needs emptying.

No!!

Leave it working! They'll come after you for wrecking their system!

How do you manage your tank, that you share with your other neighbour in the front garden? Presumably your not emptying that every other month? Are they the same type of system, or do you not understand that one either?

If you don't understand what you've got, I recommend doing some research!