Survey done: septic issue

Sparky85

Sale agreed & survey done on a 1970s stand alone house.
Turns out the septic system is working by discharging into a ditch at the rear of the garden.

Anyone any idea of costs to rectify this?
Also is planning permission required for new system?

Surveyor states: “ The septic tank is discharging to a drain located at end of rear garden. Such arrangements have been illegal since the 1970;s and it is recommended that a properly constructed percolation area is prepared and the current arrangement is closed. Given the site constraints, including location of well, some difficulties may be experienced with construction of percolation area. An upgrade of the current system could be considered with use of a treatment plant which pressure injects final effluent into upper soil layer”

sydthebeat

Worst case scenario your looking at a pumped polishing filter with a treatment system costing around €8k.

Best case is the tank is OK, but just needs percolation piping....this could be troublesome though if its a small site and separation distances to Wells etc can't be achieved.

Every option will require an EPA test and subsequent planning application.

Sparky85

sydthebeat wrote: »

Every option will require an EPA test and subsequent planning application.

Thanks for your reply, what does the EPA testing involve? Is this before the new system is built?
If we go ahead with the sale & buy the house can we be penalised by the EPA as essentially the septic is polluting at the moment?

_Brian

I think it’s likely once you have remedial works to do a new treatment system will be required.
Does the property have its own well and if so where is it located ?? Are there neighbors wells that need considering.

Is the overall site big enough to get a percolation area installed ??

There is an awful lot that can hold this back, if you don’t have sufficient space for a percolation area you may need to approach farmer across the hedge and that will again be complicated and likely expensive.

The €8k above is a minimum I’d be budgeting for while double that wouldn’t be unusual for these works.

I wouldn’t be going ahead with the purchase for now unless there is a serious discount involved.

Sparky85

_Brian wrote: »

I think it’s likely once you have remedial works to do a new treatment system will be required.
Does the property have its own well and if so where is it located ?? Are there neighbors wells that need considering.

Is the overall site big enough to get a percolation area installed ??

There is an awful lot that can hold this back, if you don’t have sufficient space for a percolation area you may need to approach farmer across the hedge and that will again be complicated and likely expensive.

The €8k above is a minimum I’d be budgeting for while double that wouldn’t be unusual for these works.

There is mains water but there is also a well, surveyor states the well maybe far enough away to be unaffected but to get it tested obviously.
I suppose next step is to get a septic company out to look at the site and see what’s possible and the cost, then maybe renegotiate with the seller and see if they’ll budge on the price considering the work to be done.

sydthebeat

Sparky85 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, what does the EPA testing involve? Is this before the new system is built?
If we go ahead with the sale & buy the house can we be penalised by the EPA as essentially the septic is polluting at the moment?

Don't go ahead with the sale as is... The house is a defective product. Would you buy a defective oven?

Either the vendors solve the issue... Or they take the costs to do so from the adding price.

In order to know what it will cost, the first thing that has to happen is the EPA test... Which is a percolation test which determines the type of system required.

_Brian

Regarding the sale, imagine if you go ahead and it turns out there isn’t sufficient space on site for percolation and the neighbor farmer doesn’t allow access to install it on his land.

You’d essentially be left with a house that has no usable bathroom.

Rows Grower

Try and get contact details of someone local to the area who has done percolation work for either new house builds or something similar to your own situation.

It may be the problem can be solved quite easily by a man with a mini digger, a lorry load of drainage stone and some lengths of pipe.

Dolbhad

If there is a well and connected to mains, that seems to me they connected to mains water at some point. Is there a possibility of connecting to mains services also and bypass the spetic tank? I’d be looking at all this prior to signing contracts and either have the works done or a discount on the property to reflect the works you have to do.

Kamili

I looked into a house that had very similar issues to yours and walked away. There was mains, but it wasn't connected, it needed planning, then Irish water would need then to agree to connect it, which wasn't cheap either and could take a lot of time. You need planning first and no guarantees that they would connect you either.

Walked away because it got very expensive very quick no matter which route you took. Wasn't worth the expense even with a reduction in price. House is basically sale proof without this work done and the vendor just wanted shot of it.