Chimaera Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Hello allI have been a long time lurker who is incredibly grateful for all the advice posted which is proving very useful. However despite searching I cannot find a definitive answer to my question so would be very grateful for some help please. Please bear with me, it is a little lengthy!I have had an offer accepted on a property (initially a second home) which has a questionable fosse - we cannot locate access points and it drains onto a field owned by the property. We understand that it was installed approx 8 years ago and have asked various questions of the agent which have yet to be answered in full as enquiries are due to be made of the local Mairie. We were therefore hoping that the diagnostic report (in addition to the Mairie enquiries) would give us all the information we needed before signing the Compromis. We have now been told by the agent that the diagnostic report (which I thought included info on the fosse as well as electrics, termites, lead etc?) will be on the table before signing the Compromis, and the fosse report will be done before the final signing. Is this right?Also although it is no problem to go to France to sign the Compromis, can I ask for it to be sent to me in the UK to be signed?Thank you in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Before you sign anything make sure you get a report on the condition of the Fosse, as at the moment there is a big government clampdown on non conforming Fosse septiques, and to replace it could cost anything up to 10.000 Euros depending on the situation. Personally I would want the report long before I sat down and signed a compromis so I could asses the financial implications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 We didn't find out until we sat down to sign the final paperwork that there was a problem with the fosse. The mayor of the local commune used to be the chairman of the water board and he had sent a letter to the notaire which said there was no drainage-what he meant was that it didn't comply with new regulations. We had a choice to withdraw from the purchase or go ahead knowing the problem.We put off signing for a couple of hours while we contacted the sellers in the UK.. They were surprised to say the least but fortunatly saw our predicament and rather than lose the sale agreed to fund half the cost of a new fosse.We were lucky and I think had we known about the problem earlier we may well have decided to pull out of the sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 When SPANC have done the compulsory inspection of a fosse septique they will advise whether or not it has to be replaced or tweeked a bit and the property owner has FOUR YEARS to comply or be fined. We had the report on council recently which listed all the inspected properties in the commune, those which complied and need nothing doing and those will WILL REMAIN ON RECORD until they are either replaced or comply to what was required. You cannot get out of ignoring it if you need a new system as it will remain on record and then a penalty issued to do the work immediately at your own cost. You can get grants from banks or via the bodies that the mairie will give details for but nothing much in financial terms from the commune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araucaria Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Chimaera - I wouldn't let a thing like the septic tank stop you buying a property you really like. But if you are having second thoughts anyway it might provide you with an excuse for dropping out.I'm not a technical or legal expert so take what I say with as many pinches of salt as you like.It's my personal experience that the SPANC inspection reports could very well miss important issues - so a clean bill of health from SPANC doesn't mean you won't have to spend a lot of money if something goes wrong. I would be very surprised if you had any financial recourse to SPANC even if they had missed something that was blindingly obvious.Others will probably correct me, but if your installation complied with the then-current norms at the time it was constructed, then the SPANC inspection cannot require you to replace it with a more modern version.If the SPANC report does say you need to do something you will have to do it, eventually, but a huge number of other householders will have installations that are a lot worse than yours (if yours was really installed in the last decade). I wouldn't worry about being hit with fines if you show willing and try to co-operate: SPANC will have better things to do with their time and limited money. The SPANC report is not likely to be a complete bill of health anyway, even for a very recent installation: the question you need to get answered is whether the state of your installation obliges you to have something expensive done to it. Our almost new septic tank doesn't have the required ventilation from the tank itself (our plumber called it a "norme nul" - a stupid requirement), and that's noted on the SPANC report, but we don't have to put one in. We just have to tell a purchaser if we ever sell the property.It's pretty common for people not be able to find the access points in a property where the grass has been growing untended for a few years. But it's impossible to lose a 1000 litre (or more) tank permanently: it will be there, as will the drainage field. It's just a matter of finding it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thank you to all of you for your replies. It's great to get information from those people who have been there, done it and got the T-shirt!We absolutely love the house and it really would take an awful lot to put us off. However we do not have rose tinted glasses on and expect there to be problems somewhere along the line. I guess it is just a question of trying to do as much research as possible so that you can try to have information to allow you to prepare for those problems. Although I'm sure there'll be things that will happen that will be a complete surprise, but that's life and part of the adventure - especially in France! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arbredesoie Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Just to add something which I found out just last week.. In the Somme area of Picardy, we looked at a house where the owner insisted the fosse complied with current regs but I checked with the mairie and then the local SPANC. The fosse didn't come up to standard and the SPANC man said if the house was sold, the purchaser would have just one year to comply. Like so many other rules and regs, this may differ from dept to dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 "We have now been told by the agent that the diagnostic report (which I thought included info on the fosse as well as electrics, termites, lead etc?) will be on the table before signing the Compromis, and the fosse report will be done before the final signing.Make sure that there is a 'condition suspensive' in the Compromis before you sign it, allowing you to back out in the event of a bad report.You may decide to go ahead, but if you know that you don't have to it relieves the stress.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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