Treatment works plant- sharing costs.

[TulipVictory]

Basically we have a treatment plant for our sewage. We moved into our house over 5 years ago and we share our treatment plant with another house. However, the treatment plant is on our land and all of the waste goes under the ground right in front of the house. On the deeds to the house we have to pay for emptying and they pay for electric which at the time we thought was okay but didn't realise that in fact, it costs us about £300 per year and they pay less than £5 per month in electric.

Anyway, the treatment system is now broken because they had left the electric off! A cable had come out which they didn't realise so now it doesn't work at all. We only realised it didn't work when we had sewage coming out in front of our house! So this does not impact them at all really. So we yet again had to pay 300 to empty it, however, it likely overflowed because their electric was not on! They said they well on the contract it says you pay for emptying so would not pay towards this! Anyway I have had someone out to look at it and it is not working including main filter etc! We've had a quote which is over 1K to fix 😭 Anyway, these neighbours (who are new, been here less than 6 months) have agreed to pay half to getting it fixed. But it's all a bit of a nightmare. Does anyone know where we'd stand legally? Is there a way to change the contract that they have to pay half of all bills etc? We have definitely been left in a very unfair situation especially when it's all on our land and they are essentially filling under our ground with their poo for virtually nothing.

You really need to get a solicitor to look at the original documents which set up the arrangement.
They bought their house recently so I assume the contract obliges you to facilitate their use of the treatment plant.
But if for some reason their solicitor was not aware of the contract and they don't have a legal right to discharge into the plant their house becomes uninhabitable.

You start off by saying this is on the deeds, then later you refer to changing the contract. I presume, since it applies to new owners, that it is actually on the deeds.

Regarding the cost of getting the plant fixed, do the deeds say anything about who is responsible for maintenance?

As for changing things, it is very unlikely that you will be able to change the existing arrangement unless your neighbour consents. However, I agree with the previous poster that your best course is to consult a solicitor.

Is this somewhere quite rural? I'm really surprised your solicitor didn't advise you against the purchase or at least point out the maintenance issues and potential pitfalls at the time?

You're likely to have problems selling your house for this reason too, unfortunately.

I live rurally and my number one rule is to not have any shared access to any services with a neighbour as in my experience, it's liable to incur ££££ and lots of stress to put right.

We get our septic tank emptied about once every 5-8yrs so annually seems excessive to me, but I don't know how your system is set up.

£300 is a lot to empty a tank. Once a year should cost you £150 max. You should share the maintenance costs, which it looks like they are doing.

With electricity going up, their bill might likely become higher anyway. But really, you should both be on the ball re checking it works.

You should both be periodically checking the motor is running for eg - you can usually hear it, but you could lift the lid also.

I mean, you both have a vested interest in keeping it empty and maintained, especially if the electricity comes from their house.

Their outlet might be outside your house, but if it backs up their loos will eventually not flush either.

I would point this out and agree an amicable split or suggest getting a solicitor to draw up a maintenance plan.

I have a similar sewage treatment plant, they should have annual servicing of both the plant and the pump. So really the whole thing needs looking at.
Having just had my tank emptied the quotes I got ranged from £169-359 and I have excellent access the tanker can park right next to the tank, I know if access is tricky they charge more.

We're in a very similar position, except we've got an old fashioned septic tank 🤢🤢

I don't think there's much you can do. It doesn't sound very fair, but you agreed to the situation when you moved in. I suppose you could both instruct a solicitor to clarify your contract with regards to repairs.

There might be something you can do. Each house gets its own septic tank and soak away. These need permission to construct but at least you have your own. You will create an environmental hazzard with a non working system. It is expensive to fix this but I would want to be free of next doors sewage. See a solicitor but also consult an environmental engineer or Env agency for advice.,

Why would next door agree to that ££££ when (as) they have a legal right to the existing tank?
The OP's system can be fixed and OP can run electrics from the fuse board but NDN would have to dig up their garden to install the tank and groundworks.

@SolasAnla that is true. As much as that idea would be perfect for me, it totally wouldn't be for our neighbours 😬

@SolasAnla @TulipVictory

The government thinks slightly differently. Both properties are jointly liable. In addition. If you had your own system, the neighbours are wholly responsible for theirs. I know what I would do. As you have both discharged sewage you need to contact the Environment Agency for advice. This is not acceptable and clearly you need a better system.

@TizerorFizz have looked at getting connected to mains sewerage and the quote was £20k which I don't have unfortunately. No discharging into the environment as I have no emptied it.

Now even

@TulipVictory
I would still investigate what each householders responsibility is legally. If it doesn’t soak away and overflows it’s a hazzard. I was referring to getting your own septic tank and soak away. Not connecting to the mains. We have no mains drainage where I live. So it’s important to get a working system. Ours has no pump snd literally soaks away leaving some slurry at the bottom of the tank. We have it pumped clean every 18 months. However we are not at the mercy of anyone else or held to random over it.

@TizerorFizz the problem the OP has is that there is an agreement in place (a variation per point 3), the NDN's contract they pay for the electricity in exchange for the connection.
We can only assume that at the time the 2 houses were connected that it complied with all the planning conditions (that should have been investigated when both houses were sold).
The OP's system failed due to lack of electricty once the technician fixes the pump etc the system will continue to work.
The OP needs to check the contract which is in place.

OP you should check the capacity of the tank as they are usually sized to deal with a fixed number of bathrooms/ house occupancy.
If NDN or you add an additional waste water this can also lead to the tank flooding

I would suggest the agreement is unfair and not in the spirit of the law as it now stands. NDN is in a better position due to an unfair agreement. This needs to be rectified because it’s clearly ludicrous.

From what the OP says, this appears to be in the deeds of the houses concerned. It is not contrary to the law. Arguing that it is unfair will not get the OP anywhere. This is not a consumer contract, nor can it be said to be either party's standard terms of business, so unfair contract terms legislation does not apply. It is very unlikely that the OP will be able to get it changed unless their neighbour agrees the change.

Have you had anyone round from environmental health to inspect your tank recently? Most people I know are being told they need to switch from a septic tank to a treatment system, not the other way round.

@PotatoHammock
They will be round if it overflows snd discharges raw sewage. I accept the deeds are not able to be altered so the OP has no wriggle room. Other than move and see if anyone else is going to accept this situation. Probably not.