Percolation Area and house sale

Location

Hi I bought a house some 14 years ago and the house had a bio cycle unit connected to a normal soak pit. Today I am now selling the same house but the engineer for the purchases insisted I install a percolation area or I could not close to sale. Our friend also sold they're house some months ago but did not have to install a percolation area as we did even though they only had a basic septic tank and soak pit. What is the difference between their case and ours and why did we have to fork out thousands when they didn't. Must every house being sold which is not connected to mains have to have a percolation area today?

sydthebeat

Location wrote: »

Hi I bought a house some 14 years ago and the house had a bio cycle unit connected to a normal soak pit. Today I am now selling the same house but the engineer for the purchases insisted I install a percolation area or I could not close to sale. Our friend also sold they're house some months ago but did not have to install a percolation area as we did even though they only had a basic septic tank and soak pit. What is the difference between their case and ours and why did we have to fork out thousands when they didn't. Must every house being sold which is not connected to mains have to have a percolation area today?

"soak pits" have been illegal since the mid 1970s... and some kind of percolation area has been the requirement ever since.

when was your house built?
and when was the biocycle installed?
the biocycle should not have been installed without a percolation area, and moreso it should not have been specified without a percolation area

Location

Thanks for the reply sydthebeat.I contacted the local authority today to try and find the original planning that was submitted for the house by the Builder. Planning was submitted in 1996 for a dwelling house a septic tank and a percolation area but all that was ever there was a bio tank and a large hole full of round gravel so I assume the property was never complained with planning fully when I bought it? am I correct in saying that this hole of stones was not what was meant by a percolation area in the planning permission and were percolation areas in the 90s the same style as what we have today?

sydthebeat

Location wrote: »

Thanks for the reply sydthebeat.I contacted the local authority today to try and find the original planning that was submitted for the house by the Builder. Planning was submitted in 1996 for a dwelling house a septic tank and a percolation area but all that was ever there was a bio tank and a large hole full of round gravel so I assume the property was never complained with planning fully when I bought it? am I correct in saying that this hole of stones was not what was meant by a percolation area in the planning permission and were percolation areas in the 90s the same style as what we have today?

you are correct to say that the "hole with stones" was never an acceptable installation back when the house was built.

percolation areas are largely similar to what they are now, though these days they tend to be larger and more detailed

http://septictanks.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Gravity-trenched-percolation-area.jpg

the above is a pic of a very typical percolation area.

what your problem is today, is to determine what percolation area is acceptable for you to install. do you look at the original planing file to see what length of percolation pipes were required back then, and install that... or do you
get a site assessor to specify a percolation test that complies with todays regs?

to do the latter may require a percolation test.

Location

Thanks again for the great info. Much appreciated.
This is the full situation to date. What to do ?
1. I put house on market last summer
2. Appointed engineer to check situation in advance
3. Same engineer I had when l bought originally
4. Sale agreed November
5. Purchasers hired same Engineer ??
6. Same engineer working for both sides now ?
7. Engineer reports that l need boundary rectification and pirculation area ?
8. Big rush to do job.
9. Did pirculation area 6.5G + Vat
10. Processing boundary rectification now.

11. Got original papers from old solicitor.
12. This same engineer gave affidavit when l bought house that physical Boundary was compliant with map but l know boundary never moved since l bought house so he said it was fine when l bought the house but now that I'm selling it's not ?? He never mentioned pirculation area back then even though builder applied for one.

13. No choice but to pay now to fix everything in case l lose sale.

14. Checked old planning submitted by builder.

15. He applied in 96 for 1house 1 tank 1percolation area.
16. He was approved but built 2 houses but just a hole of stones for a percolation area.

17. He applied for retention of 2 houses in 2002 and got it.

18. I think common denominator in all this is SAME ENGINEER INVOLVED !

19. My solicitor is not showing any desire to investigate only brushing me off to focus only on the house sale which l agree is priority.

20. I feel l have been wronged and have paid nearly 10G now for someone's else's error.

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF ANYTHING ?
IT IS WORTH FIGHTING THIS LEGALLY OR IS IT TOO LATE?

BryanF

Is engineer agent or owner ?