UKH

I've got a couple of legal questions, so I came to UKC of course!....

If someone in Scotland has an old septic tank (like, concrete box with concrete slabs laid on top) that doesn't have a soakaway and any overflow just pours out of it onto grass in a field, do they have a legal obligation to do something about it? Or is it "old system, was ok at the time so still allowed now"? (It's used for water from toilets, sinks etc in one house.)

Follow up. If someone else's septic tank is on your land and they have an access right to maintain it etc. Can they use that right to go dig up an area of your land and put in a soakaway system where none currently exists by citing this as "maintaining" or whatever?

I can't believe the answers are anything other than yes and no.

However Google garden law forum for the right place to ask the question!

Oh shit, that sounds like a right pisser

That rated a wry smile... Maybe 4/10 by UKC standards.

I hope so. But from what I found in England and Wales, old horrendous systems only got outlawed this year and I couldn't find a quick answer for Scotland.

Thanks. I'll check it out.

In the light of recent experience with a legacy tank, the Environment Agency is not interested unless it's polluting, but any company with a commercial interest will say that a non-polluting tank that does not comply with current regulations ought to be replaced.  Note 'ought', not 'must'.  If it's discharging above ground then it's polluting and needs to be fixed, but it probably just needs to be emptied.  They're not magic and not everything disappears, especially if the owner discharges large volumes of water or large quantities of bleach etc.

There is guidance on line, but make sure you follow .gov.uk links because half of the commercial organisations appear to us to be complete charlatans.  It's the General Binding Rules that you're after,  the 'new rules', to which the charlatans refer a lot, relate to systems that discharge to surface water (i.e a stream or ditch).  If the tank in question isn't soaking away to ground (i.e via a drainage field (a network of buried perforated pipes) or , in our case a sodding great chamber that's about 7 metres deep) then it needs to be addressed one way or another.  It's not allowed to pool or the surface or smell

I don't know about the legal side, but it sounds to me like its time they had someone come and empty it.  It shouldn't be overflowing.  

If it's a septic tank it should have sub-surface drainage through porous pipes. If not then its a cess pit and should be emptied regularly.

Probably best to contact SEPA?

Just seen the second part. Are you certain there's no soakaway? Seems odd to have a box in a field.

I know when I bought our house the deeds said we had rights to put a septic tank in one field, but the old tank was in another field that didn't belong to the house owner.

In the end he had to buy the entire field, include the area with the septic tank in the house sale and give us access for maintenance to the remainder. 

I'm presuming you own the field? If it's not a huge pain it might be best to allow access to sort the tank out? If there's a watercourse nearby SEPA might insist the tank be replaced with a treatment plant if it's failed.

It's a complex area, and might be less hassle all round to sort something out with the tank owner.

Following on from what Ridge said, worth bearing in mind that some cesspits drain to another area where there is a soak away.

I’ve lived in a house that had a cesspit next to the house, but it turned out it would normally empty into over 50 m of pipe to a soak away well outwith the house garden.

The first it was discovered (very old title deeds were far from specific) was when the cesspit overflowed with liquid rising to ground level. On professional emptying out, it was easy to see the actual outlet pipe to the soak away that had been blocked. A detailed trace of the pipe then showed where the soak away was.  

That emptying of the tank solved the problem which never occurred again though it was then had a regular though infrequent emptying maintenance program.
 

As an aside, I was taken aback at the size of the cesspit. It was huge.

Don't know about Scotland, but when we bought our house in Wales the neighbour who owns the field with our septic tank in waited until the house sale went through then promptly reported it to natural resources Wales stating it wasn't working well (which was true) and that it was poisoning her foals (unlikely). 

NRW approached us in a very relaxed way and just wanted to see that we were making progress with quotes/plans to upgrade and didn't push any timeframes, they also gave advice on modern systems.

We have a historic right of easement for the septic tank/discharge of waste water on the neighbours land, so neighbours didn't have a choice about us continuing to have some sort of system on their land (which I think may have been part of their underlying motive for reporting it in the first place).

We now have a biorock sewage treatment unit next to where the old septic tank/soakaway was.

Not sure if this is useful or not. Friends bought a house from council with septic in field on other side of road. No problem for 20years. Field ownership changed hands, new owners find my friends, and whole street, have no right to have septic in field. Lots of money and time involved. 

They have an obligation not to pollute. In matters of pollution events- the polluter pays.  Meaning whoever was historically responsible for the cause, pays for the clean up (if the environmental agency demands it).  If that person cannot be found, then the current owner of the property pays.  Its shit, but its why people take out EIL insurance as the EA has powers to compel you to comply. They can ask you to pay for remedial works to public and private land.

In regards to the maintenance question - no.  The easement will be for access only.  any additional work or structures will need permission.  Otherwise it is trespass.

However- this is all based on my knowledge of the system in England.  Might vary in Scotland.

if it doesn't have an exit - it is a cess pit not a septic tank

If they have a right of easment that will include to repair or renew - but they od have to give the land owner advanced warnnig.

Speak to Environmental Health 

Private message me if you want a chat - I do drainage enforcement in Env Health

I want to avoid that for now because that would certainly result in a bridge bonfire and there might be better solutions as I'm going to be building a house with a sewage treatment plant there. Just keen to know where I stand before the discussion starts properly with the neighbour really.

Yeah, definitely no soakaway, apparently in times gone past all sorts of substandard stuff was done and it wasn't really checked up on and nobody cared too much if it was basically just fertilising a field with a few sheep in it.

I do own the field. They do have a right of access already to maintain and empty it and so on and I'm not going to impede that because there is no reason to.

Yeah, that's my plan, they have already demonstrated that they are going to be awkward at best to deal with though (On another unrelated issue) so I want to make sure I know exactly what is what ahead of time.

Thanks to EdS and others for the rest of the advice.

To give a bit more info:

The tank is pretty full of sludge. The top of the tank is level with the ground surface. It does have an exit pipe but that pipe isn't connected to anything, it's just a 6 inch section that pours onto the grass. The tank is maybe 1m wide and 2 or 3m long, I'm not sure how deep it is, but overall not very big I don't think. I think it is most likely that it is a septic tank but without a soakaway (although the owner has referred to it as a cesspool).

That sounds nasty!

Here is SEPA's septic tank leaflet which may be of help 

https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/480219/septic_tank_leaflet_uk_a4_v2_090913.pd...

Thanks. That is useful to read.