Sorry to be blunt but.............. With property transactions assume
nothing, and trust nobody! The property owner has to take responsibility
for
their obligations. The consent is issued, and administered, by the EA and
is
in the name of the property owner. It is up to the property owner to
notify
the EA that the property ownership has changed. If it was transferred then
the EA would have sent the consent to you. So it seems likely that either
the consent has not been transferred or no consent exists.

I see.This is all most worrying.

Having said that, from looking at the Environment Agency page on this
matter:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...ter/32038.aspx

a consent is not always needed, so perhaps that's the case with my
property and soakaway.

to quote from that page:

"We don't require Consent for discharges of sewage from a small sewage
treatment plant or septic tank into a soakaway or drainage field,
provided that:

* it is not in a Groundwater Source Protection Zone 1 (also
referred to as the Inner Zone);
* it has a volume of less than 2m3 per day;
* the installation was designed and built to the standards
applicable when it was installed; and
* it is properly maintained."


now my soakaway is located in a field that is also part of my
property. Only two people live in this property (my wife and myself)
so the volume of 'water' discharged per day is minimal.

Now whether the soakaway was built to the correct standards I don't
know, but I understand from a neighbour that it was built about 8 or
so years ago.

I guess I had better make some enquiries with the Environment Agency.

This is though VERY perplexing as I had assumed that this was all part
of the property exchange process. I was obviously mistaken.
Unfortunately these days ignorance is no excuse, but in this case I
think it should be! After all, how on earth was I to know?

As you say the old adage applies and if it did not almost any breach of the
law could be without penalty. Having said that your solicitor should perhaps
have asked the vendor if they did have all the necessary permissions. My
installation is for a household of two people and the soakaway is in the
adjoining orchard, with permission of the owner, and when I asked the EA
they were adamant that a consent was required even though I replaced an
existing, 60 year old, septic tank, with a small treatment plant that has
significantly lower level of pollutant output. Whilst applying for the
consent will cost money, it will be much less than the fine if you get
caught without one. The company you employ to do the work should deal with
the EA and BC consents. Unless there are particular problems with the site
it should be quite straightforward. The main things they are concerned with
are preventing pollution of water sources and that the soakaway is of
sufficient size for the property and the likely number of inhabitants now
and in the future. Also remember that even if you don't need EA consnent the
BC will need to be satisfied that the propsed installation will meet the
required standards.

Peter Crosland