New duties in the sale of properties with wastewater treatment systems

The Conveyancing Committee would like to highlight the following obligations for vendors and purchasers, which affect the sale or purchase of properties in rural areas (for the most part) from 1 February 2013.

The Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 was introduced on the back of an ECJ ruling that Ireland was in breach of the Waste Directive (76/1442) for not having proper legislative provisions in place regulating the disposal of domestic waste water from septic tanks. Section 4 of the act introduces a new section after part 4 of the Water Services Act 2007. It provides for the introduction of a registration and inspection system for domestic waste-water treatment systems. The act came into operation on 26 June 2012.

Under the Waste Water Treatment Systems (Registration) Regulations 2012 (SI 220 of 2012), 1 February 2013 was appointed as the prescribed date for the purpose of registration of waste-water treatment systems, for example, septic tanks, and so on.

Under section 70D of the act, a person who sells a property connected to a domestic waste-water treatment system (as defined in the act) including, but not limited to, a septic tank, will be obliged on the closing of the sale to furnish a valid certificate of registration in respect of the treatment system to the purchaser.

The purchaser is obliged to notify the water services authority of the change of ownership after the sale is completed.

Under section 70C, there is an obligation on property owners to ensure that a system does not constitute, and is not likely to constitute, a risk to human health or the environment and, in particular, does not create a risk to water, air or soil, or plants and animals. There is also a duty not to create a nuisance through noise and odours.

This matter will be the subject of an additional requisition on title in the new edition of the requisitions due out later in the year. Practitioners should include requisitions to clarify the position regarding the registration of any waste-water treatment system serving a property being purchased and the evidence that will be available on closing to verify this. Preferably this should be raised pre-contract.