News and Events

If You Have A Septic Tank, This Affects You!

In many rural communities where connection to a mains foul sewer is not possible the septic tank has been relied upon, for many years, to provide foul water drainage.

Provided they are correctly located, designed and installed, these systems may provide many years of service and in most cases do not need to have any special environmental consent. Until now an advantage of a septic tank is that it is pretty much free of associated "red tape", but that’s changing” says James Owen Agricultural Property Director at Battens Solicitors.

New regulations require that all domestic sewage treatment systems including septic tanks are registered with the Environment Agency. In most cases registration is free but it must be done before 1st January 2012. Systems discharging straight to ground water have to be registered immediately.

James says that when he registered his family farm's septic tank, he found the process fairly straightforward but admits "I had a bit of help!". As a result James and his colleagues at Battens Solicitors have set up a simple scheme to help householders with their applications and will see the process through to completion for a one off fixed fee of £90 including VAT.

James warns "Registration was a nuisance, particularly as we had been using the septic tank for many years, but at the end of the day, it is not worth risking prosecution for the sake of filling in a form." For more information on registering your septic tank, CLICK HERE.

If you would like to speak to someone about registering your septic tank please contact James Owen or Phil Crowther, by telephone on 01935 846000 or by e-mail at p.crowther@battens.co.uk.

Created: 15 April 2011