Buying house - Septic Tank No Access.

[AndyBerrick84]

Hello

I’m reaching out to see if anyone has been in a similar situation or could provide some general advice regarding a property we’re looking to purchase.

We are currently in the process of buying a charming terraced house and have come across a challenge involving an old septic tank located in the back garden, which appears to have been constructed in the 1960s using concrete blocks. While we are not overly concerned about the functionality of the tank itself, we have encountered a significant issue: there is no direct access to the tank should it require replacement.

With two adjoining neighbors, it is unfeasible to bring in machinery from the sides. The only potential access point would be from the rear of our garden, which adjoins another neighbor's property; this would necessitate their approval and is likely to cause disruption to their garden. Furthermore, replacing the tank could incur expenses exceeding £20,000, particularly as we would need to employ a crane for the task. Unfortunately, connecting to the mains sewage system is not a viable option for us.

We have requested that the seller arrange for a structural survey of the tank to evaluate its current condition and ensure compliance with local regulations. While this may offer some degree of reassurance, we remain concerned about the possibility of the tank failing during our planned ten-year residency.

Should the survey reveal that the tank is non-compliant or shows indications of deterioration, would it be justifiable to request that the vendor replace the tank with a more contemporary system? Alternatively, do you believe it would be prudent for us to reconsider proceeding with this acquisition, given the access limitations to the tank?

I really appreciate any insights or experiences you could share regarding this matter.

Thank you for your help!

Being reliant on the goodwill of the neighbours to allow the emptying of the tank just seems far too risky. I can't imagine who would be prepared to buy this house even if the tank was upgraded to current standards. Nobody can know how future neighbours might behave.

People who do that sort of stuff have massive insurance for precisely that reason.

That’s fine, if you can access the garden where the septic tank is. This property is terraced with no direct access, without going through neighbours garden/accessing their land. Hence the need for a crane

Maybe so, but I just couldn't do with the stress and hassle of the repairs, even if I wasn't liable for the cost. The disruption would be enormous. No way would I have anything craned over my house, and no way would I ever grant permission for neighbours to do it over my house. It's really not all about the money. It's the mess, damage, stress, disruption, etc of putting it right.

This was what happened to our garden😫

It is all reseeded and green again now but at the time I could have cried.

Definitely get the owners to replace the tank before you buy, or take the cost off the offer. We bought a house with a septic tank in 2021 and discovered that all septic tanks were supposed to be upgraded to the new water filtration systems prior to this date. It wasn't a brilliantly advertised thing but was a legal requirement and one that many vendors only come to discover when selling. If I hadn't done my research, we'd have been liable for this but luckily we got £25k back from the offer ring fenced by the solicitors, who then paid this out to the builders on completion of the new system. It's been no problem but we do have good access to do so. We got a few companies to come out and talk through logistics / access etc prior to completing on the purchase.

Unfortunately the boom on most mini diggers does not allow the reach needed to excavate to the right depth for most tanks.

That also doesn't help with the delivery of concrete to hold the tank in the ground.

Nice, looks like it would be freezing though also.

There's a field behind, I would think access through there would be easy enough (in the summer) providing the land owner consents. Most of them are pretty good about stuff like this for a smallish fee (1k).

Did you have it checked for asbestos too? That era always raises a flag for me

Asbestos is in millions of houses in the uk. It was very common until 1980s. It really isn’t an issue if you leave it alone. We’ve just bought a 1920s house which has an artex ceiling in one room, it will almost certainly have asbestos in it. We factored the cost of removal of it into our offer.

That's fine if you don't need any work doing, i.e. repairs, remodelling, improvements, extensions, etc. Many builders are very reluctant to do any work when there is asbestos in a building, even minor stuff. Even things like rewiring or re-plumbing will usually send them running away never to be seen again.

I've got a small office that has some relatively safe asbestos sheeting in the ceiling behind the plasterboard ceiling (fire proofing between the office and flat above). Nothing in the walls, nothing anywhere else. Couldn't even get an electrician to change the ceiling lights on a like for like basis as they wouldn't touch anything fixed to the ceiling at all. That was several electricians we contacted! In the end, we did it ourselves - a very simple job, didn't even need to drill any new holes, just screwed the new into the plugs for the old.