Septic tanks

If you live in a rural area and your home isn't connected to the mains drainage, you're likely to have a septic tank. Its purpose is to treat the waste water from your property and maybe adjoining properties. 

It's up to you, and your neighbours if they use the septic tank too, to make sure it works efficiently.

There is more information about septic tanks on the Scottish Water website.

Register of septic tanks

If you use a septic tank, you have to register it with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Registration means that you're allowed to use the septic tank.

If you're unsure whether your septic tank is already registered, you can ask SEPA to check.

You can find out more including how to register online and what it costs on the SEPA website.

Building a new home

If you're building a new home, you might use a septic tank because of where you're building.

You will need to follow regulations and obtain consent. You should also have help from an architect, a builder or a planning officer to sort this out.

There is more information about septic tanks on the SEPA website.

Problems with septic tanks

You might experience problems with your septic tank such as blockages, overflows and leaks.

If you fail to check the tank properly and there's a leak because of poor maintenance, you could have a statutory notice issued to force you to maintain, repair or improve the tank.

Shared use

You might have problems agreeing with the people who share the septic tank about:

• how to maintain the tank, for example the secure lids

• what to do if it needs to be replaced

• how to allocate costs for desludging - because properties are different sizes.

You must try to agree about how to maintain your septic tank. Check if there are rules in your title deeds about maintaining the septic tank.

If a repair is needed to make the tank safe then one owner can organise the repair and serve a notice on all the owners. All the owners are responsible for sharing the costs of the repair but they can appeal against the notice.

You can read more about resolving neighbour problems.

Septic tank blockages and overflows

The people who use a septic tank are responsible for any blockages or overflows. If you don't fix the problem and there's some discharge, you're causing pollution.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, your local council or your neighbours could take steps to force you to sort out the problem. 

If you want to report a leaking septic tank

If a neighbour’s septic tank is leaking and causing problems, your options will depend on what effect the leak is having.

If the tank is leaking into nearby streams or rivers and causing pollution, then you can contact the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).

SEPA will contact those responsible and try to resolve the problem informally. If this isn’t possible, they can serve notices on the owners requiring them to take action.

Find out how to report a problem on the SEPA website. 

If the tank is causing problems on land such as creating a damp patch of ground that has an offensive smell or affecting your neighbour’s water supply, then you can contact the Environmental Health Department of your local council.

Councils have powers to serve notices, requiring owners to carry out works to stop the problem. If owners don’t do the work then they could be committing a criminal offence. 

You can find contact details for your local council on mygov.scot.

If your local council won't take steps against the owner of the septic tank, you could take civil legal action against the owner yourself. You should get legal advice.

Read about getting help with a legal case.

Desludging a septic tank

You can choose to use the desludging service provided by Scottish Water or by a private firm. If you choose the services of a private firm, you should make a contract with them.

Scottish Water's desludging service

You can choose between:

• a scheduled service - this is a planned service with desludging at regular intervals and you'll be asked to sign a contract for this service

• an unscheduled service - if you give Scottish Water at least 5 days' notice, they can call to desludge at your request. This service is more expensive than the scheduled service.

If you have a serious problem that needs immediate attention, there's an urgent response service. Scottish Water will try to provide the service within 2 working days.

You can read more about the desludging services and their costs on the Scottish Water website.

Paying for sewerage services

You don't have to pay for sewerage services from the local council on your council tax bill. The septic tank should provide all the sewerage service that you need.

Getting connected to the public sewerage system

You might want to stop using a septic tank and get a sewer connection instead.

Find out more about getting connected to public sewerage.