Cesspit woes

[lucysnowe2]

Hey all - so there's a house DH and I are quite keen on - under budget, great big garden, good location. However, it's been on the market since Nov 2019 . It's got cesspit drainage so not ideal, but on looking into the legal stuff it appears that two neighbours also have their cesspits under the garden (??) so there are three manhole covers altogether - one on the porch, and two in the garden. (So three different pits??)

I'm thinking this is a dealbreaker, what are your opinions? Is there any way we can move neighbours' access, or change to septic tank/mains drainage? TIA :)

Presenting
your parents' one must be tiny.

Our whole village uses cesspits and it's a frequent topic of conversation - there are a couple of my neighbours who only have theirs emptied once a year.

Another advantage of cesspits - developers who want to build in the field next to us are put off at the additional time & expense of installing cesspits so never pursue their plans. Thames Valley Water have no plans to put us on mains drainage.

I have my neighbour's cesspit under my garden as well as my own. It's not a problem. Every year or two we coordinate to have them emptied and get a discount for doing 2 at once.

Wow, others are paying a lot more! We're a family of 3 and can probably go 2 years between emptying. Next door sometimes has more people in, so it averages out to every 18 months. It costs £60 per visit for each of us.

Its worthwhile speaking to the local water and sewerage company to see if there are plans to bring mains drainage to the area. From my experience working in the industry it can years in the planning to completion. So cesspit/septic tank drainage might be a short term means of drainage.