Shared Septic Tank With Buying A House

[09shaen]

Hello all, I am considering buying a house. On the land are two sewerge tanks. One is for the next door neighbour, and the other is for the house i am thinking of buying and a house further up the lane. Both tanks will be on the land of the house i am thinking of buying. How do i stand legally and could any of the parties, ie the neighbours, slow up the purchase with any disputes? Any information would be very helpful.

[buildersmate]

Clearly you are going to ask your solicitor as that's what you pay him/her for. However this is not an uncommon situation and it is all very straightforward when there are easements written into both the prperty title for the house you are considering buying and the neighbour.

Such easements will give him the right come onto your land to service/empty/modify the installation as his cost but assure you that any digging of trenches he may have to do are made good afterwards. In some situations there may be a payment due to the house-owner.

Your solicitor will explain it all to you.

[09shaen]

Thanks for your quick response. I am definatly going to get it all checked with the solicitor. My only issue is the neighbour at the end of the row, that i will be sharing the tank with, doesn't want the house to be sold (it has been in his family for a long time, but he is not the vendor) Will any easment put in place for the purchase of the house have to okayed with him first? Can he slow the sale of the house up in any way?

[buildersmate]

I've never heard of a situation where the control of the sale of a property is vested in a neighbour in this manner.

The usual scenario is that the seller owns the freehold of the land, the neighbour has only very limited rights to ensure that his septic tank doesn't get messed about by the owner of the property you propose to buy.

[09shaen]

So aslong as i include a clause with my solicitor to allow access for maintence and essential works for the neighbour/s there can be no problem with time delay of the purchase? My budget is very tight in order to buy the property and i want to try to avoid any extra costs that may incur through a disgruntled neighbour. Thankyou for the advice

[buildersmate]

Your solicitor won't need to do this. I'm juest trying to put your mind at rest by explaining what will already by within the land title of the property you are proposing to buy. Your solicitor will merely look at the wording, think to himself 'that seems very normal', probably explain to you in laypersonspeak what it says in the easement as a restriction, and all will complet as normal.

It is most unlikely to be the case, but it is just vaguely possible that there is no legal rights for that septic tank to be there at all. In which case it would be less about the neighbour being able to slow the sale, more about your solicitor wanting to slow the sale until the existing owner sorted out the infringing tank on the land with no legal right for it to be there.

[09shaen]

Thanks for your answer - just hope its the first scenerio! I'm going to get the title plans from the land registry online to see if there are any markings denoting any rights of way. I think my biggest fear would be that because all the houses are owned by different members of the same family there might never have been anything official reguarding the tanks!?

[wastetech]

Here at WTE Ltd. we deal with this type of situation every day.
Wether it causes actual legal problems depends on the actual wording in the 'Rights reserved for transferees' section in the Third Schedule' of the Title Deeds. Ask your Solicitor to investigate.
Wether you have any actual problems is another matter. Only this morning we had a call from someone who bought a house with their septic tank on someone elses land. The tank needs replacement as it is leaking, but this means making one devil of a mess of the neighbours garden. Although they have the right in the above Title Deeds to do this by Law, it has almost got to the 'Shotguns at Dawn' stage. It will go to Court. Not a nice situation and expensive for everyone involved.
Try to sort all matters pertaining to this septic tank out with your neighbour BEFORE you purchase and remember - when the tank or soakaway fails, and they all do eventually, it is YOUR land that will be contaminated, not his and you may find it difficult to get him to rectify matters without going to court. If his soakaway is also on your land, then it is a bigger problem as soakaways fail with monotonous regularity. The septic tank then 'backs-up' and you could have raw sewage flooding on your land. Septic tank effluent cannot be discharged to a ditch, so check that neither of them do as the fines for pollution are prohibitive.
The best solution would be for him to put a tank on his land instead, but as this is likely to cost a couple of thousand pounds, he might not be eager to do so.

[wastetech]

Here at WTE Ltd. we deal with this type of situation every day.
Wether it causes actual legal problems depends on the actual wording in the 'Rights reserved for transferees' section in the Third Schedule' of the Title Deeds. Ask your Solicitor to investigate.
Wether you have any actual problems is another matter. Only this morning we had a call from someone who bought a house with their septic tank on someone elses land. The tank needs replacement as it is leaking, but this means making one devil of a mess of the neighbours garden. Although they have the right in the above Title Deeds to do this by Law, it has almost got to the 'Shotguns at Dawn' stage. It will go to Court. Not a nice situation and expensive for everyone involved.
Try to sort all matters pertaining to this septic tank out with your neighbour BEFORE you purchase and remember - when the tank or soakaway fails, and they all do eventually, it is YOUR land that will be contaminated, not his and you may find it difficult to get him to rectify matters without going to court. If his soakaway is also on your land, then it is a bigger problem as soakaways fail with monotonous regularity. The septic tank then 'backs-up' and you could have raw sewage flooding on your land. Septic tank effluent cannot be discharged to a ditch, so check that neither of them do as the fines for pollution are prohibitive.
The best solution would be for him to put a tank on his land instead, but as this is likely to cost a couple of thousand pounds, he might not be eager to do so.

[johnk]

Sounds like a massive argument is about to happen, are you sure you want this property if this neihbour feels aggrieved at the sale?