Shared Septic Tank - Educate me please

[Igurisu]

Been looking at some houses lately, we fancy going rural after living in towns all our lives. There are two things that I spot as big differences, no gas mains and no mains sewerage. Gas I can handle, there are heating provisions of some kind in place, usually oil. However, I no absolutely nothing about septic tanks apart from what I've googled over the last few weeks. We recently viewed a house that we liked, however one thing that put me off was a shared septic tank.

The house has a septic tank on the premises that is shared with five other houses (a row of 6), however the tank is under the back garden of the house for sale, not any of the other properties. I checked with the owner and agent, there is no contract or management agreement of any sort between the six properties. They all get on (theoretically), chip in to have the tank emptied whenever required and maintain the drains, or so I'm told. As there is nothing in writing it's pretty much impossible to verify any of this. Maybe because I'm a "townie" but I just think it's a (potential) disaster waiting to happen. The tank or drains block up, neighbors disappear into the ether and we would be left to sort out the problem.

So am I being paranoid about something and nothing, is this the norm for rural properties?

One other question regarding the tank, this time about drainage. When I do some reading up, the size of the drainage field required varies depending on the porosity/permeability of the ground. However, when we viewed the house the back garden was waterlogged. I wonder if this is because the drain/leach field is trying to dispose of water from six houses into something approximately 100 metres square (10m x 10m). I was told the drains do not extend beyond the garden boundaries.

We really like the house but I wonder if its a world of pain for the future. Can anybody with some knowledge of tanks, or rural living experience advise me if my concerns are valid?

If it's a case of spending some money on a survey then that's also something I'm thinking about. I guess I would need a specialist with knowledge of installation and maintenance of septic tank systems.

Thanks in advance
Pete

[Igurisu]

The ground is clay, or at least that is what I was told as the reason for the back garden being waterlogged.

The house is in Shropshire if that makes any difference. I have wondered about writing to the other houses to ask if they would be open to joining a formal agreement. However, maybe that would be considered a bit cheeky seeing as we haven't even put an offer in on the house. The other thing that crossed my mind was to go back to the owner and agree a purchase subject to an agreement being in place.

Even with an agreement though, I'm still concerned about the drainage, and if somebody decides not to pay it gets difficult.

I'm thinking I'll listen to my voice of caution and stay away.

[Igurisu]

I'd have no issue with getting my own done, can budget for that. That would still leave everybody else using the tank under my garden though. I can imagine how popular we'd be with the neighbors if we bought the house, moved in then told them all to make their own arrangements for sewerage because we were ripping out the shared tank

[Igurisu]

Thanks everybody for your input and information, it's much appreciated.

We will walk away from this and keep looking.