I just recently bought a house. We have a sump pump and it's now winter.... do I take the discharge hose off outside so it doesnt freeze?? The pump does run like 3 times a day. If I take the hose off the water will drain right next to the side of house! Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!!

I am in Virginia and purchased a house that has a drainfield that exists onto a neighbor's property which is nothing but cow field. The neighbor doesn't even have a house there. Turns out that the septic tank was an illegal rig built about 70 years ago. The County has records of the whole transaction that never seemed to be resolved. When we purchased the house about 15 years ago, the Septic Company just did a walkover of the septic system...not sure how they climbed the fence to go onto someone elses property but whatever. Now it is 2020 and the lender demanded an inspection of the tank and distro box which the septic tank inspectors asserts have both failed. There is only one drain field line! To make things worse no easement was ever granted and there is no easement in the Plat nor filed with the court. Oh it gets better! My neighbor has refused to grant easement and refuses to sell the land where the easement would go...I don't have the money to buy the land anyways but just letting you know! So I have a lawyer dealing with this situation but he is not very optimistic about the situation. The courts are largely closed up/backed up due to Covid and the neighbor has an affirmative defense against going to Court due to Covid and a health issue. Before you tell me that you wouldn't grant easement either...I get it. However, I never granted easement and this "neighbor's" cows and bulls have gotten through his fence and entered my yard several times. I once woke up with an angry bull staring at me urinating. We have a buyer, the house has been under contract for months now and the buyer keeps hanging on. We do have an out on this as sellers as we can break the contract if repairs exceed $1500. The buyer is financing and even with conventional the bank needs an easement and a clean septic inspection. I can't just hand the man $15k and tell him to go deal with it. (The septic system functions ok in my opinion in reality). Oh it gets worse. We would just be breaking even on that house even after 15 years due to zero down and high interest rate at the time. Someone knows someone who *might* be able to fix this for $10-12k provided easement is granted....so just to get away from it we have to go 12k in the hole which is starting to sound fine since it is a secondary home. If it can't get any worse it does....An OSE came by and advised that the septic must go on the neighbors property because the soil is not suitable! I called around asking about the alternative systems that everyone here advertises and they are even more expensive. Any questions about it results in....doesn't matter if you are using an alternative system...the soil still needs to be good. The conversation quickly ends and no one wants to talk. ....and the worst of all....I am Law Enforcement with a High Level Security Clearance. I could lose my job for walking away from all of this! I know this isn't a legal section, just giving you the totality of the circumstances. I see no way out technically speaking with regards to the septic. Just thought that I'd ask so that my realtor and I don't have to work in a vacuum before I throw in the towel and just say gotta do what I gotta do! Thanks.