When you purchase a property, your Solicitor will carry out various desktop searches, one of them being a water and drainage search.

This search will provide a lot of information about the property, whether it is connected to mains water, mains sewerage and surface water drainage.

Many rural houses are not connected to mains sewerage meaning the waste does not drain to a sewer and the property isn’t connected to the public sewer system. Instead, the property will be serviced by a private drainage system, such as a septic tank, cesspool or sewage treatment plant.

There are three types of private drainage systems:

Septic Tank. This is a large tank located underground and will collect the waste sewerage from your property which will drain into the tank where it will be treated. It works by separating the solids from the liquids, allowing bacteria to break down the waste before the liquid is discharged into a drainage field and the solid is collected by a licensed waste contractor.

Cesspit. This is similar to a septic tank in that it is a large tank located underground that will collect the sewerage and wastewater from your property, however the tank is sealed and does not discharge the wastewater into the environment. Unlike a septic tank, it does not treat waste but simply holds it until it is emptied by a licensed waste contractor.

Sewerage Treatment Plant. This is a system that processes wastewater to remove contaminants before releasing treated water into the environment. Unlike septic tanks, which only separate solids from liquids, sewage treatment plants use biological and chemical processes to break down waste more effectively.

Regulatory Rules

The Environment Agency have introduced a set of regulatory rules known as the general binding rules which govern the installation and operation of septic tanks and sewerage treatment plants which discharge into the environment. This is to ensure that watercourses are not polluted with untreated sewerage. The general binding rules provides a set of rules to follow depending on when the tank was installed, how much waste water is produced daily, how often the tank should be maintained and requirements of the house owner when selling the property.

If a property is located near to a watercourse, a septic tank cannot discharge into a drainage field, but must discharge directly into the main sewers, or a sewerage treatment plant must be installed.

It will be your responsibility to arrange for the emptying, maintenance and repair of the tank and all associated costs. Emptying of the tank will be dependent on how quickly the tank fills up. As a cesspit is simply a holding tank, it will need emptying more frequently than a septic tank.

Sometimes the private drainage system will be located outside the property boundaries and may serve more than one property. In this case your Conveyancer will need to ensure that there are adequate legal rights in the title to use the tank and its pipes. As well as suitable arrangements in place regarding who is responsible to maintain and empty the tank and who should pay and how much towards emptying and maintenance.

Things to consider when purchasing a property serviced by a private drainage system:

  • How old is the tank – when will it need replacing. It can be expensive to replace a sewerage treatment plant and may require planning permission and building regulation consent.
  • What type of treatment plant is it - Is it fit for purpose. Does the wastewater discharge to a drainage field and is there a watercourse nearby.
  • What is the cost to maintain and empty the tank – find out the running costs and make sure you budget for the ongoing costs.
  • How often will it need maintaining and emptying.

Next steps...

For more information on this topic, or anything Conveyancing related, please give me a call on 01283 561531 or email r.gibbs@timms-law.com

Check out what some of our clients have to say here.