Septic Tanks at Rural Cottages

1.0  This guidance applies where a rural cottage, sharing a septic tank with an adjacent owner-occupied dwelling, is being transferred from the Housing Executive to a Registered Housing Association.

2.0  Planning Service and NI Water policy is generally that any new dwelling must have a separate waste disposal system.

3.0  Where a shared septic tank happens to be sited on land transferred to the Association the problem is that a new septic tank has to be provided for the replacement dwelling.  An accommodation must also be reached with the adjacent owner-occupier but some have taken the stance that they have a legal entitlement to continue to use the existing tank or that they cannot afford to install a new one on their own property.

4.0  The Department accepts that, subject to costs being reasonable, the Association may, in circumstances described in Para 3, supply the dwellings affected (i.e. the Association’s dwelling and the adjacent owner-occupied dwelling) with new disposal systems.  The Department will help fund the costs on the basis of applying an additional supplementary multiplier within the Total Cost Indicator (TCI).

5.0  Current TCI supplementary multipliers include a ‘Special Services Requirements’ multiplier addressing these criteria.  The supplementary multiplier should cover most proposals and includes on-costs.

6.0  The Department will not consider meeting the costs of protracted or difficult legal issues as a cost overrun.  Associations should satisfy themselves as to the viability of their proposals including subsuming the legal costs within the grant available.