If you own, buy or sell a property with septic tank
 

Seems our solicitor may be on the ball. Apparently septic tanks have to comply with new 2020 regulations. This could involve many thousands of pounds to get the system to comply to BS 6297:2007 and BS EN 1256.

Not sure abut cesspits.

So if you own, buy or sell a property with septic tank, be warned

macafee2

More bureaucratic BS or HS in the interest of accuracy...

My brother in law has been caught out with this. He bought a house 2 years ago with a non-compliant septic tank system. His solicitor missed this during the conveyance so he has recently had to spend £7k on a new system. Under the rules, the vendor should have sold the house with a compliant system, or given a discount equivalent to 100% of the cost of a new system.

Am I missing something here? 2 yrs ago was 2019 (obviously!) so that was before this new requirement came in last year.

How did he find out about the legislation?
Your brother in law wont be the only one caught out by it.

macafee2

Not long after buying the house they started having issues with the septic tank backing up. They called out a company to check the tank and empty it, and were informed at that point. After a bit of research it became apparent they had a big issue on their hands.

Surely there is a claim against the solicitor here somewhere? Otherwise, what is the point of paying high fees for conveyancing expertise?

Quite. A good conveyancing specialist lawyer would know about the impending Law Change and flagged it up. I would also add that a good legal conveyancing specialist would work with the Surveyor to ensure no nasty surprises.

A lot of the time clerks do the paperwork unless you ask the right questions in writing things can be missed.

Very true in the case of these “conveyer belt” firms that don’t really have true legal “bods” overseeing things. Sadly people use these because they are cheap.

Same goes with a survey. “Are you happy with a lenders report? - cost is £150” buyers get asked. Compared to a full survey at three or four times as much, those that have their heart set on a property often think “well, we are going to buy it anyway - so what’s the point?”.

If it were me buying a house with a septic tank I would have at least googled “Septic Tank problems” - “what to check when buying house with septic tank” etc etc - as well as getting a full survey done and then reading that survey and understand what it says and it’s limitations.