I'm not an expert but I'd think that if the additions were permitted and legal the owner would have had to upgrade the septic system.

There's a chance the additions were done on the sly.

I'd check to see if the additions were permitted.

I agree.

The additions probably were done without permits otherwise the septic system would have been required to be upgraded at the time.

Additions to manufacturer homes also typically require an architect or engineer to design them. Mobile homes imply cannot be added to in the same fashion that stick built homes can.

You can ask the sellers to provide the info or make corrections, but it is unlikley they will.

Check with the local code office to see what was permitted, but you're going to find it is probably best to walk away from this 'deal'.

Yep - you can cause HELL for the current home owner. Just like complaining about a car sitting on the street for over 24hours...

Course - your actually trying to BUY the house....

"Tennessee Ground Water Protection Division" might be able to scream at them... Demand they upgrade the system - or remove the bedrooms. So they could remove the bedrooms. Undo the entire remod. Course the house will be off the market then, and you wouldn't want to buy it - since it would no longer be a 5 bedroom house...

People remodel stuff all the time without permits. And I know of no house that is perfect.

A manufactured house can have bedrooms added to it. Safely. Even without the county's blessings.

Instead of trying to FORCE the current homeowner to do something - why don't you try communication and negotiating??

The current homeowner doesn't have to do anything. They can take the house off the market. Have you offered full price? They can refuse to sell to you - if you have not offered full price. You obviously have a counter-offer based on the septic - so they do as well. They might decide they don't wish to redo the septic. And say no go to your 'offer'.

You have 5.5 acres of land. It is possible - but maybe unlikely - that in all of these 5.5 acres - no land would be suitable for a 5 bedroom septic.

I mean - what if the septic can't be ugraded?? My brother lives on a lot of land, and the cost to upgrade his septic is quite high... It functions fine, but now the county demands that it meets code when the house is sold... and it does not currently meet code. It met code when built - but not now...

It is not in the sellers best interest to have tests conducted to see if the current septic, or surounding land can be made to function for a 5 bedroom house.

He has a 5 bedroom house. It functions for his family. If a septic eval states that his septic is not adequate for a 5 bedroom house, and cannot be upgraded - this makes his house virtually worthless. He must disclose this info on the disclosure form, etc. So - it is not in his best interests to allow a septic eval - when his septic functions fine.

Course - an eval might state it is adequate for a 5 bedroom house... Then he's fine...

Don't know what the septic rules are in Tenn. If you like the house, you might try teaching your children to be more careful about what they're doing, and still go ahead with the purchase.

Only a septic eval can determine if this is sufficient. And ground conditions, etc. SUBSTANTIALLY come into play with the cost for a septic. NO WAY are you going to know the cost to 'upgrade' without a substantial eval.

And if the county doesn't require it to be brought up to code during a sell - as here where I live - than no way are you going to FORCE this guy to do it...

I can't believe how adversarial people are! If the septic is currently working fine for 6 people, and you like the house - buy it - and do yearly maintenance on the septic, don't have a garbage disposal, flush tampons, etc....

Wow Dave777, I hope you feel better!

All kidding aside, here's the answer:

1. No, you probably can't "force" the seller to do anything.

2. Ask for a credit to compensate for cost of increasing the septic size. The seller may turn down this proposal, but this is the way serious defects that are discovered on inspection are handled. You may have to move on. BTW: Once the Realtor and seller are aware of the material defect, they are probably obligated to disclose it to any other potential buyer.

3. If they did the addition without a permit and took a shortcut on the septic, check everything else carefully. People tend not to just overlook code in one area.

4. I personally don't agree with Dave777, you don't want to reward someone for taking serious shortcuts on things like the septic. You also don't want to buy something that you can't sell later without doing expensive work. Keep those kinds of expenses where they belong - with the person who made that decision in the first place.

Dear Broadas, Hire yourself a county qualified septic system designer to evaluate the site for you. This will cost you perhaps $300 plus $150 for the backhoe. Ask the designer if a "legal" 5 bedroom system can be built on the property and for how much. Approach the seller to reduce the price by that amount and make the sale conditional on receiving an approved design from local health for a 5 bedroom system. This will make sure that at the end of it all you will have a legal system to handle the wastewater from your structure. Anything less would point you down the road to another property without this flaw.

Remember you need open land for the larger drain field that WILL be required to increase the size of the system.

How much of the 5.5 acres is open field?