Septic tank problem

Pickyourbrains

Hi, I am about to put my house on the market and am just getting everything in order and have just found out there's a problem with the septic tank,it was never fitted with an electrical system (pure flow was mentioned?),all very vague but at least I know now,I'm about to apply to register the tank and I'm wondering how long it takes for them to come inspect it? Am I guaranteed to have to pay the 5k roughly for this system? Any advice appreciated because I'm clueless

Also,I inherited the house so problem never came up before

scriba

Buyer's engineer's report will flag it and if someone requires a mortgage to buy your house, the bank won't approve the purchase without the septic tank meeting regulations. Now you can wait and see if a cash buyer comes along and buys your house a discount to the tune of the work that needs to be done. Or you can do the work up front now and minimise any potential delays when dealing with non-cash buyers. We are about to close on buying a house that had a septic tank issue, and walked away from another house which also had a septic tank issue. In each case, everyone understood that the work needed to be done by the vendor. But that's just our experience.

Good luck with the sale!

Lumen

Which regulations? Which inspections?

I bought a 1980s house with a septic tank appropriate for that time. Was checked by the surveyor, no issues. It's very simple concrete tank with small percolation area. It wouldn't meet current regs but I'm not sure I'd want it to, as it is it requires no regular maintenance at all, just pumping every few years and then a dead chicken.

If I spend any money it'll be to replace with pumped connection to mains sewer, which will be done to free up garden space for landscaping. But that's 20k.

Graham

Mod Note:

OP, I have moved your thread to construction and planning where you may get a better response.

Metric Tensor

OP - I'm readying between the lines here but it's not a simple as "some bits weren't installed"

A "Puraflo" system is a proprietary system of peat filters installed to provide secondary treatment after the septic tank - the septic tank discharges to a sump and the effluent is then pumped from there to the filters.

This system, or a similar one, is usually specified by the site assessor during the planning process because the ground at the site is not suitable to take the effluent directly from the septic tank (i.e. Discharging effluent directly from the tank may pollute the ground and nearby wells.)


As said above - anybody who assesses the house for a potential buyer will point out that the house doesn't comply with the relevant planning permission and if the potential buyer is getting a mortgage they will not be able to buy the house until the system is made compliant by the vendor.

All is not lost though - you may have options with regards to the system - you need to employ an engineer to look at what's on site and compare it with what is required and advise you on the necessary upgrades and the options available to you.


Registering the tank is only semi-related to all of this. Inspections are rare and regardless of the outcome of an inspection this will not make the system compliant with planning.

Pickyourbrains

Thanks everyone,very helpful advice.
The house was built in 2007 and I've been told (honestly it's very very vague) that it was an electrical system worth 5g that was left out because the original owners never planned to move and thought they could get away with it.
My plan is to fix it now before It goes up for sale,really trying to market the house as move in ready so definetly don't want a hold up like that.
I was thinking the process would be register -inspection- fail and then they would advise me and I was worried it would be a long process but going straight to an engineer is the better idea