# Septic Tank Replacement Advice



## StevejR1 (May 21, 2013)

Hi All,

Part of the process of obtaining a habitation licence on the property we have an offer on, is that the Town Hall require the pozo ***** to be replaced with a sceptic tank.

I've been trying to do my research, but I just wondered what was the norm, and what was the ideal, to use in a campo property in Spain? Concrete, plastic, three chamber?

Any advice gratefully received.


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

StevejR1 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Part of the process of obtaining a habitation licence on the property we have an offer on, is that the Town Hall require the pozo ***** to be replaced with a sceptic tank.
> 
> ...


Be careful, as I understand it, the town hall will have specific rules about what you can and what you can't do.

Around here it HAS to be a 3 chamber, plastic, unit - nothing else is allowed.

Also, the 'soak away' has rules surrounding it (distance, direction etc.).


----------



## StevejR1 (May 21, 2013)

Thank you 

The owner also has to apply for a licence to install a sceptic tank from the Town Hall, so I would assume that would specify exactly what they require?

I have read that the 3 chamber version is the best, so would suggest that is the one that is installed, but as the owner will (hopefully) be paying for the installation I have to be careful at making demands. So if they state it has to be a three chamber one that would be good.

Does anybody know of an approximate cost for a sceptic tank installation, especially a 3 chamber one?


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

3 chamber is the legal requirement now.


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

I don't know the price but the whole exercise will be thousands.

... why do you care if it's the owner's problem?


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> I don't know the price but the whole exercise will be thousands.
> 
> ... why do you care if it's the owner's problem?


that's what I was thinking 

this is 100% up to the current owner to deal with & pay for if they want to sell

even if StevejR1 wasn't buying it, they'd have to do it to sell it to anyone else


----------



## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

StevejR1 said:


> Thank you
> 
> The owner also has to apply for a licence to install a sceptic tank from the Town Hall, so I would assume that would specify exactly what they require?
> 
> ...


I paid €2,500 for a three chamber fibreglass septic tank seven years ago (including excavation and installation). I have not come across any other campo house in this area that has one - they all rely on a block-lined hole in the ground! Interestingly, a friend who obtained his habitation certificate (cédula) for a new house three years ago also has only a hole in the ground and the Town Hall didn´t even look at it when they carried out their final inspection.


----------



## StevejR1 (May 21, 2013)

Thanks all 

The reason I asked for the costings, and my concern, is because when I had the discussions with the estate agent regarding obtaining the habitation licence from the Town Hall, they disclosed that part of obtaining the licence was to apply for a licence to install a septic tank....they tried to convince me that you didn't actually have to have one installed, just apply for the licence!!.....

...aren't Spanish estate agents great?!?!??....must think we are daft?!?!

I have pointed out that this sounds like they want one fitted, rather than just want an application for a licence! And if that's so the seller needs to pay for it! I was then told this would cost about ?1,000...which sounded very cheap, so I just wanted to know if that was accurate or not?
And so there is also not an official acceptance that the seller has agreed to pay yet....but it won't be the other way around!!


----------



## StevejR1 (May 21, 2013)

Latest estimate is between €2-4,000 for a three chamber instillation...is that realistic?


----------



## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

I have lived in the campo for years , and spent time working as a builder here

And 99% of older campo houses around my way have soak type septic tanks .

I Guess its just a case of each town hall , to weather they enforce fitting new ones or not ?

Cheers Tony


----------



## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

StevejR1 said:


> Latest estimate is between €2-4,000 for a three chamber instillation...is that realistic?


As I said in my earlier post, I paid €2,500 seven years ago for a three-chamber septic tank (including excavation and installation).


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

StevejR1 said:


> Latest estimate is between €2-4,000 for a three chamber instillation...is that realistic?


Yes.
Here there is no restriction on selling whether it has one or not. The legal requirement is that they were all supposed to have been done by 2015 , I believe.
If you have a pozo ***** & it requires renewal you can legally install another one as there is no legal requirement to install the 3 chamber jobby .


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

StevejR1 said:


> Thanks all
> 
> The reason I asked for the costings, and my concern, is because when I had the discussions with the estate agent regarding obtaining the habitation licence from the Town Hall, they disclosed that part of obtaining the licence was to apply for a licence to install a septic tank....they tried to convince me that you didn't actually have to have one installed, just apply for the licence!!.....
> 
> ...


When you refer to Spanish estate agents are you referring to agents whose nationality is Spanish or agents whose nationality is something else and are practising in Spain?


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

gus-lopez said:


> Yes.
> Here there is no restriction on selling whether it has one or not. The legal requirement is that they were all supposed to have been done by 2015 , I believe.
> If you have a pozo ***** & it requires renewal you can legally install another one as there is no legal requirement to install the 3 chamber jobby .


Do you know what the actual law is regarding this or perhaps do you have a link to it?

We have a pozo ***** and would like to know if we have to upgrade it (not that we would straight away ).


----------



## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> Do you know what the actual law is regarding this or perhaps do you have a link to it?
> 
> We have a pozo ***** and would like to know if we have to upgrade it (not that we would straight away ).


All the links I have are on my old computer which died a few weeks back & I haven't found anyone to get them off for me yet : 

This is the only link to the general EU regs that I have.
Urban Waste Water Directive Overview - Environment - European Commission

By all accounts the French & Irish will not accept the EU standard & require a far stricter testing procedure for there tank installations & the Germans are similar.
One article I read some while back stated that under the EU requirement it was possible to get a bucket full of waste passed as conforming, such was the laxity of the test.

P,s. Something I seem to remember is that Valencia passed its own regs requiring systems to be of the new requirements to gain a C of Hab. Whereas it doesn't apply here or Andalucia .


----------



## StevejR1 (May 21, 2013)

The Skipper said:


> As I said in my earlier post, I paid €2,500 seven years ago for a three-chamber septic tank (including excavation and installation).


Thanks Skipper 

I just wondered if prices had risen, fallen, or stayed roughly the same over the last seven years.


----------



## StevejR1 (May 21, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> When you refer to Spanish estate agents are you referring to agents whose nationality is Spanish or agents whose nationality is something else and are practising in Spain?


I mean estate agents trading in Spain...it is funny, but during our search I can only think of one house that we have viewed through a Spanish national estate agent. Mostly they have been Brits, and two Dutch agents..who both were very organised.


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

StevejR1 said:


> I mean estate agents trading in Spain...it is funny, but during our search I can only think of one house that we have viewed through a Spanish national estate agent. Mostly they have been Brits, and two Dutch agents..who both were very organised.


They are the very ones to be wary of. They will tell you all sorts of things to sell a property and once they have got their commission, will disappear, just like a number of foreign builders, plumbers and electricians, etc.


----------



## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

StevejR1 said:


> Thanks Skipper
> 
> I just wondered if prices had risen, fallen, or stayed roughly the same over the last seven years.


I´m afraid I can´t answer that question with any certainty but I would guess that prices haven´t gone up much - if at all - due to The Crisis and low inflation over the last seven years.


----------

