Septic system on small lot

[mtmprop]

I'm looking to buy a home with a septic system. The house was built in 1979.
The previous owner was a kid when he lived there and knows nothing about the condition, location, layout etc.
So I'm assuming the entire system is original. I plan to ask the owner to pay to have the system located and inspected while I would cover the hydraulic load test for the system.
Here is the issue. This home along with the other homes in the neighborhood are on very small lots; (0.2) acre!
It does have public water but there is no public sewer anywhere close.
My concern is even if the system passes now, being 42 yrs old, it probably will need a new drain field during my ownership. I spoke to the towns' SEO and a septic company and they estimated a new system could run as high as 40k due to the small lot size. Of course they are giving me the worst case scenario.
I'm just unsure how to proceed as it seems to be a big risk. However the other owners in the neighborhood could be in the same situation due to their small lots also.
Any recommendations are appreciated. .

 

[JG plumbing]

I'm guessing it won't pass inspection being that old. They never do here in my area. Get an inspector with high standards that will give your the real story.

You could be an outlier and have it pass. In that case 40k is crazy.

Here's something out of ordinary. Our town was building a locker room for the high school. There was no good way to hook the sewer on. They let us bore it a pretty long way, we used fusion pipe and the guy boring it was pretty good he the way it laid out pretty much guaranteed the pipe was sloped. I'm not saying you'd get permission to do this, but if your saying a septic system could cost up to 40k I'd look a lot harder at trying to tie on to the city sewer.

 

[FishScreener]

I recommend you gat a licensed Professional Engineer to review the system you have, and give you a recommendation.

There may be EPA grants and loans available to the city to extend the sewer to your location and hook in the houses, abandoning the septic systems. I’m in the west, and the State has what is called Local Improvement Districts. Basically the State fronts the money for the construction, and the property owners pay them back over twenty years through an assessment on the property taxes.

 

[mtmprop]

One small correction. The lot is 0.28 acres but still seems like a problem. Aside from the hydraulic load fee, I don't want to put alot of money out only to find it is lost money. Seems like this is like playing the lottery and it will come up with me loosing alot of money.

 

[Twowaxhack]

If there’s no room to relocate the drain field you may have to have the entire field excavated and hauled off down to the level the governing authority specifies.

Then you get new fill dirt hauled in and lay your new field.

It’s quite expensive.