I’m no expert, but whilst a lot of responsibility is solely the landlords, the agent does have specific responsibility around the advertising period. They are supposed to be transparent about the condition of the property and disclose all material information. Under the “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading” regulations, it is a criminal offence for an agent to omit serious safety defects that they ought to have been reasonably aware of, which they clearly should in this case and the involvement of the council will help your case. You would have the right to claim damages from them for such omissions. If you want to go ahead suggest you get a solicitor involved.
AA valves are designed to allow air in and no smells out. Standard practice nowdays
Many thanks for your useful comments. Can anybody recommend a competent solicitor who deals with cases like this?
Many thanks for the help.
There are 4 soil stack pipes, the nearest to the tank up to the eaves of the roof and open, two low down under bathroom windows with AA valves and the one furthest from the tank totally open below the directly bedroom window.
Combined with a sealed concrete septic tank that, contrary to the rental agreement, had never been emptied since it was built (?1960-1970). The waste was soaking into the garden, the neighbours garden, and backing up, this is surely not correct?
many thanks
I lived in an old mill house that had a septic tank . Never any smell .The way it works is this with the old systems Tank collects the waste , there is an overflow into a filter bed ,then the cleaner water spreads out thru 3 pipes in a fan shape to the garden (Which was huge) No smells ,no pollution to the river. Tank has AA valve. No smells, , RE house ,open stack must be 1 meter above and / or 3 m away from an opening window
PS The tank has to be emptied of solids of course, Mine was emptied every 2 years
CD Thank you for that. I agree. However it seems that there are some Landlords and Letting agents who do things by the book and others don’t care without any accountability