Septic Tank Issue

flynny50

Sale agreed on a property and just heard back from surveyor.
The septic tank is only a holding tank,no percolation at all & tank needs emptying around 4 or 5 times a year!!
Has anyone ever came across this before?!
Surveyor wont sign off unless this is upgraded and bank wont lend based on this.

Plumbthedepths

flynny50 wrote: »

Sale agreed on a property and just heard back from surveyor.
The septic tank is only a holding tank,no percolation at all & tank needs emptying around 4 or 5 times a year!!
Has anyone ever came across this before?!
Surveyor wont sign off unless this is upgraded and bank wont lend based on this.

Never heard of this type of set up. It's irrelevant though. If the bank refuses to lend based on the Surveyor your only option is to move on and start searching again.

trigger26

flynny50 wrote: »

Sale agreed on a property and just heard back from surveyor.
The septic tank is only a holding tank,no percolation at all & tank needs emptying around 4 or 5 times a year!!
Has anyone ever came across this before?!
Surveyor wont sign off unless this is upgraded and bank wont lend based on this.

Yes same thing happened to us this year, sceptic tank with no percolation. we walked away from sale, bank would not have signed off anyways. We estimated 10k to fix plus planning permission needed, too much hassle all round

shane b

We bought a house like this in 2011, although it wasn't picked up in our survey. Bank wasn't overly concerned either.
Owner had planning and all got, just never bothered doing the percolation area. After we bought we realised the tank/treatment unit needed work too.
The estimate of 10k in the post above would not be far off what we have spent.

listermint

Isn't the surveyor for you...

Not the bank.

We never had to send a survey to the bank. They did send out their own valuer which is an entirely different profession.

woohoo!!!

Put it back to the seller, planning permission required to upgrade and build or walk away. Or at minimum to get planning and the install cost is deducted from the price.

flynny50

Thanks for all the replies.

Not sure exactly how it works but if the house has no septic tank or percolation then surely it isnt worth the price we went sale agreed on.

We are awaiting a response from the seller to our queries but as others have said without these issues being fixed or a price reduction so we can fix them it looks like we will have to pull out.

P2C

It is not unusual for houses of yesteryear to be built without a percolation system. They would of had a soak pit which would or could block. Any house over 20- 25 years in rural Ireland probably needs a serious update. The council now demand a modern treatment system, reed beds, percolation systems and other requirements and with planning, consultant fees etc can cost a lot. I would go back to the vendor and tell them the bank won’t lend due to the issue but if they rectify same etc you can but. But your talking circa 6-10k

flynny50

The site is only 0.34 acres so i am concerned there isnt even room for septic tank & percolation within the boundary!

The house is already at the higher end of our budget so this is the last thing we needed.Hopefully the seller is willing to agree to either sort it out or drop the price.

woohoo!!!

P2C wrote: »

It is not unusual for houses of yesteryear to be built without a percolation system. They would of had a soak pit which would or could block. Any house over 20- 25 years in rural Ireland probably needs a serious update. The council now demand a modern treatment system, reed beds, percolation systems and other requirements and with planning, consultant fees etc can cost a lot. I would go back to the vendor and tell them the bank won’t lend due to the issue but if they rectify same etc you can but. But your talking circa 6-10k

Entirely depends on the drainage conditions for the septic tank and percolation area or some other system. The percolation area sizing required is based on the number of bedrooms. Per EPA regs, 1 bed is a minimum of 2 Population Equivalent (PE), 2 bed is 4 PE, 3 bed is 5 PE, 4 bed is 6 PE and so on. There's also minimum separation distances from buildings, boundaries, water sources and so on. And unless planning permission can be got, then it's a pig in a poke.

Edit: just seen the site is 0.34 acres, so pretty tight. Definitely needs the water supply not to be from a well, or neighbouring wells close by.

Wildly Boaring

If your bank wont lend without engineer sign off, walk away.

If they will then you'll need about 10k off asking.

To get planning for a new system will cost 1k at very minimum. Nearer 1.5k prob

Any site less than 0.5 ac is not acceptable for a normal septic tank.

Bio unit approx 2.5k. Then either percolation area or raised bed cost you another 1 to 2k. Civil contractor to build. €500 to supervise and sign off.

You will not survive emptying the tank even in the short term. Be emptying every 2 weeks if you've a couple kids.

woohoo!!!

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

If your bank wont lend without engineer sign off, walk away.

If they will then you'll need about 10k off asking.

To get planning for a new system will cost 1k at very minimum. Nearer 1.5k prob

Any site less than 0.5 ac is not acceptable for a normal septic tank.

Bio unit approx 2.5k. Then either percolation area or raised bed cost you another 1 to 2k. Civil contractor to build. €500 to supervise and sign off.

You will not survive emptying the tank even in the short term. Be emptying every 2 weeks if you've a couple kids.

The 0.5 acres is for a new build, this is an exiting house and site so the 0.5 acres minimum doesn't apply.

Wildly Boaring

woohoo!!! wrote: »

The 0.5 acres is for a new build, this is an exiting house and site so the 0.5 acres minimum doesn't apply.

Very hard get planning for a septic tank rather than biocycle these days. Less than 0.5 acres I reckon biocycle all the way.

woohoo!!!

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Very hard get planning for a septic tank rather than biocycle these days. Less than 0.5 acres I reckon biocycle all the way.

Again, it depends on the soil/ drainage conditions which is what the trial hole tests are for. The fancier treatment systems like biocycle are for dealing with trickier drainage conditions. In any event, this is a problem for the sellers, hire the tester to do the trial holes, fill out test report and recommend treatment system, include all that with the planning application. The OP or anyone else will walk away if the seller doesn't agree to thism