ok just about to complete on our house in LODEVE and the NOTAIRE has sent us the final sales document. The seller/Notaire with no forewarning has in inserted the clause below. It wasn't in the Vente de Compris and when we asked specific questions about the drainage we were told there were no issues.
has this happened to anyone else and does anybody have any advice on this? how much does it cost to link to main drainage? are we only liable for our link?
The SELLER states that :- The building is equipped with an individual sewerage tank inaccordance of Article 1331-11-1 L of the Code of Public Health.- No survey of the installation has been drawn up by the competent SPANC for less than three years, to know if that system is compliant. Buyer states that he wants to buy the house in this situation without any recourse against the seller.BUYER states that he knows that he should have to connect its property to the main drain within two years after the end of the building ofthis main drain. If he doesn’t, the administration can force him to do it andask him penalties.
Brilliant Don I needed the confirmation above, we have now gone back to the Notaire who in a rather flustered way has apologised! and has agreed to revisit the whole kit and caboodle. I'll keep you posted as to progress.
and can I just say thank you SFN!
Hi Pete. an inspection of the fosse sceptique (le diagnostic assainissement) before selling a house is an obligation as of January 1, 2011. This inspection should be ordered by the seller and is performed by the competent authority, in this case the SPANC of the commune where the house is located. For your legal info: This obligation is laid down in "Le loi sur l'eau (30-12-2006) and completed by "Grenelle II (July 2010) and overrides 133-11-1 L in case you want to sell your house.
- This inspection wil give a detailed status of the whole installation, works to be executed to bring it up to norms or even the replacement of the installation i.e. the obligation to discard it and get a connection to the sewer mains.
- After this diagnostics the seller has one year in which he can execute the works (if any).
- In the case of selling the house the seller is obliged to submit a SPANC-report that is less than 3 months old.
- the clever wording in the clause citing 1311-11-1 L does in fact say that they have had an inspection at all of the installation, neither in the past three years, neither before that
- if a normal sewage pipe is running next to your house you will be obliged to connect your house to that pipe and abandon the fosse sceptique
If you started the process of buying the house after January 1, 2011, it is surely an attempt to frame you for the costs of renovating an old fosse sceptique. I don't know when this house was built, the older the house, the higher the risk of an defective i.e. non conform waste installation.
Don't go for that because that can be very costly. Depending on the size of the family living there, the costs can be up to 10K euros for a whole new installation. Connecting your house to the general sewers depends on the distance between your house and the road. So don't sign it, they have forgotten or willingly omitted the required SPANC-inspection and it's their problem to solve. Insist on that diagnostic to be made. The costs of works to be done as a result of that inspection can of course be drawn into the negotiation of the final selling price.....
Good luck and let us know what happens.