Home Buyers Drainage Survey

Home Buyers Drainage Survey FAQs

My solicitor wants to ensure the septic tank is compliant with the Environment Agency 2020 rules. Is this included in the report?

Yes. We provide a complete assessment of a drainage systems compliance with relevant regulations including the Environment Agency 2020 rules (which form part of the Environmental Permitting Regulations). You can read more about the General Binding Rules here.

Is the report only for people purchasing a property?

No. It can be used by buyers, sellers and owners not selling who would like a system MOT.

WCI are often approached by people purchasing a property who have been recommended by their surveyor or solicitor to undertake a professional inspection of their septic tank. Most requests are made late on in the sales process, often delaying the date of exchange. As a home owner looking to put your property on the market, you can avoid costly delays by arranging for your septic tank to be inspected before sale. This means any issues arising from the inspection can be addressed before it can affect a sale. Armed with an up-to-date written report about the functionality and compliance of your foul drainage system, you can provide the purchaser with all the information they desire. In this way, questions about the septic tank won’t hold up the sale!

What are the benefits of a CCTV condition survey?

CCTV surveys are able to uncover a number of potential defects within a drainage system. While the most common instance is a simple blockage due to soap scum, hair or food residue, these investigations can also detect cracks in a pipe, joint displacements, root ingress or a collapse of the pipe itself.

Should I get the septic tank emptied before the inspection?

No. We can tell a lot more about a tank which is full than we can about one that has been recently emptied. WCI likes to see a tank in its ‘normal’ operating state. We can then assess things like working level of the tank and signs of drains having previously backed up. With a full septic tank, we are also able to dye test the discharge pipe work to ensure it does not discharge to a ditch or stream! Where the owner of the tank is agreeable, WCI also suggests that the septic tank is emptied whilst we are at the property after our initial inspection so that we can make further checks including the physical condition of the septic tank.

What should I ask the seller about the septic tank I am inheriting?

When purchasing a property with a septic tank it is crucial to learn as much as possible about the foul drainage system in place. Any information that can be gleaned from the seller should be passed on the engineer that comes out to survey the system. The more information the better! WCI would suggest asking the following questions:

1. 1. Is the septic tank shared with other properties?
      • • How many bedrooms does each property have?
   2. Where is the septic tank and drainage field / soakaway located?
      • • Is it on land owned by you or a third party?
        • Is there an easement in place if the system is not on your land?
        • Do you have rights of access, and is a management company in place which sets out maintenance and emptying arrangements and payment of such activities?
   3. How old is the septic tank and drainage field?
      • • Who installed it?
        • Is there a Building Completion Certificate covering the installation of the septic tank?
   4. How often has the septic tank been emptied?
      • • Has the seller kept receipts of each empty?
   5. Do you know of any wells or boreholes for potable water nearby?
      • • Drainage fields can not be located within 50m of any well, spring or borehole that is used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes.
   6. Have you experienced any issues with the system?
      • • These could include backing up of drains, smells, a need to empty the septic tank more frequently, blockages or wet patches over the drainage field.
   7. Is there any history of problems especially during wet weather?
      • • Either when the groundwater sits closer to the surface or rainwater gets into the wastewater treatment system?

My seller refers to the existing system as a cesspit. What is this?

Often people will refer to a septic tank as a cesspit. The easiest way to check is to ask how often it is emptied. Septic tanks receive incoming raw sewage from a property, settle out the solids and allow the clarified effluent to discharge into a drainage field (which is commonly referred to as a soakaway). Septic tanks require emptying between every 6 months and 2 years. Should the tank be a cesspool which is a large storage tank without an outlet, the tank would be need to be emptied much more frequently!

What are the limitations with a septic tank and drainage field survey?

It sounds simple but because the installed system is underground, access to the system is not straight forward. A septic tank is always full of water and depending on its construction, it may not be possible to see into the tank (even when it’s empty). The drainage field / soakaway that should be installed after the septic tank will (if designed properly) consist of trenches underground, partially filled with clean large stone, on which a solid perforated pipe is laid, further surrounded by more stone, a geotextile membrane and backfilled with soil to ground level.

Access to the drainage field for a CCTV survey is often difficult or disruptive and if access to the pipe work can be arranged, then the camera can very rarely inspect all of the pipework and very little can be seen from inside the pipe.

WCI engineers therefore have to rely on over thirty years of wastewater engineering experience, not only of inspecting systems but of also installing and maintaining them, to read the clues that the system and the site show us.

I know that my rainwater enters my septic tank. Is this allowed?

No. Building Regulations require separate soakaways for foul water and rainwater. After dye testing and mapping of your foul drainage system, if rain water is found to enter the septic tank, the foul drainage report will detail how this can be separated, a budget cost and how this can be done.