What the law asks of a cesspit owner in Kent, who can step in when a tank fails, and what a new cesspit has to meet before it goes in the ground.
At KP Cesspool Services, we often meet cesspit owners in Kent who inherited the tank along with the house and were never told what the law asks of them. A cesspit is not a septic tank. It discharges nothing, and the duties that come with it are different. This guide sets out what you are responsible for, who can step in if a tank fails, and what a new cesspit has to meet. The practical side, how we empty one and how often, is on our cesspit and cesspool emptying page.
A sealed tank, and why that shapes the rules
A cesspit is a sealed underground tank that holds everything leaving the property until a tanker takes it away. There is no outlet and no treatment. That one fact decides which rules apply. Because nothing is discharged to the ground or to water, a cesspit sits outside the system of discharge rules that governs septic tanks and treatment plants. What it does not escape is the duty to keep everything inside it.
The duties that come with a cesspit
Three things are expected of every owner, whatever the age of the tank.
The tank has to stay watertight. A cesspit that leaks is no longer a sealed store, it is an uncontrolled discharge of raw sewage into the ground, and the owner is responsible for the pollution that follows.
It must never overflow. In practice that means emptying it before it fills, which for most households is every four to eight weeks, depending on the size of the tank and how many people live there. How often a cesspool should be emptied explains how to work out your own interval.
And the contents can only go to someone authorised to take them. Under the household duty of care in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a householder must hand waste only to an authorised person, which for a cesspit means a registered waste carrier. You can check anyone on the Environment Agency's public register, and keeping the waste transfer note from each visit is your record that the waste left lawfully.
What the General Binding Rules do and do not cover
The General Binding Rules are the conditions a small sewage discharge in England has to meet to avoid needing a permit. They apply to septic tanks and treatment plants, because those discharge. They do not apply to a sealed cesspit. People are sometimes told otherwise, usually by someone confusing a cesspit with a septic tank, and it is worth knowing the difference before you agree to work you do not need.
Who can step in when a cesspit fails
Two bodies have powers here, and they overlap.
Your district council can act under section 59 of the Building Act 1984. If it considers a cesspool insufficient, defective, harmful to health or a nuisance, it can serve notice requiring the owner to repair, renew or cleanse it, or to make proper provision for the drainage of the building. The same section covers a disused cesspool, which the council can require to be filled in, removed or made harmless. That matters when an old tank is left in the garden after a property goes over to a new system.
The Environment Agency deals with pollution. Sewage reaching a ditch, a stream or groundwater from a leaking or overflowing cesspit is a pollution incident, and "the tank has always been like that" is not a defence.
Neither tends to arrive out of nowhere. A neighbour's complaint, a smell or sewage on the surface is what usually starts it, which is one more reason to deal with a failing tank on your own timetable. Are cesspools still legal covers where they stand today.
Putting in a new cesspit in Kent
A new cesspit needs building regulations approval, and you may need planning permission as well, which your council will confirm. Approved Document H sets the minimum size at 18,000 litres for two people, plus 6,800 litres for each extra person. It expects the tank to be at least 7 metres from the habitable parts of a building and within 30 metres of where a tanker can park, so it can be emptied without hazard. Factory made tanks should meet BS EN 12566. What size cesspool do I need works through the sizing, and our new tank installations cover the build itself.
On much of Kent a cesspit is the honest answer rather than a compromise. The Weald clay drains too slowly for a drainage field, the Marsh has a high water table and protected sites on its doorstep, and plenty of older properties simply have no room for anything else.
Selling or letting a property with a cesspit
A buyer's solicitor will ask what the system is, how often it is emptied and whether it is in good order. The written notice the General Binding Rules require for a septic tank does not strictly apply to a cesspit, but the same information smooths a sale, so keep the transfer notes and any repair records together.
If you let the property, write into the tenancy who arranges and pays for emptying. A full tank does not wait while that gets argued out.
Kent cesspits in practice
Our cesspit and cesspool work across Kent runs from the Ashford villages out to the Downs, the Weald and the Marsh, and the ground changes what a cesspit owner faces. On the Marsh, groundwater can get into an old cracked tank and fill it with clean water, so a tank that suddenly needs emptying twice as often deserves a closer look. On the Downs, long drives mean a long hose rather than a tanker at the door. If you spot the warning signs of a full tank, signs your cesspool is full explains what each one means.
Getting it looked at
If you have inherited a cesspit and nobody can tell you when it was last emptied, or what state it is in, an empty and a look at the tank answers most of the questions in one visit. KP Cesspool Services has over twenty years' experience with cesspits across Kent and East Sussex, and you can read our reviews on Checkatrade. Call 01233 720725, email kpcesspoolservices@hotmail.com, or contact us to book.
Need a hand with yours?
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