Rural St Louis County Homeowners: Have Your Sewer System Inspected Now If You Plan On Selling This Winter

The weather is about to change on us and you're probably staring at a list of projects you need to get done before the snow and the cold arrive.  If you own a home in rural Saint Louis County and plan on selling it at some point before next spring - add one more:  a sewer inspection.

Officials with Saint Louis County remind homeowners that might potentially be putting their property on the market that they need to have a septic compliance certificate in hand in order to process the transaction.  The inspection needed to get that certificate is more difficult to provide after the ground freezes.  This really is your window of time if you're planning ahead.

County ordinance requires a point of sale compliance inspection to ensure that septic systems identified as Non-Compliant or Imminent Threat of Public Health receive necessary upgrades in a timely manner. As part of the point of sale requirement, any property transaction that occurs when a septic inspection isn’t possible due to frozen soil conditions requires a Transfer Agreement, which includes an agreement to complete a compliance inspection by the following June 1, and a copy of an escrow agreement to ensure the funding of a replacement system if the inspection indicates one is needed.

If, once the septic system is inspected, it’s found to be in compliance, the escrow account is absolved upon notification from the Environmental Services Department that the existing system does not need to be upgraded. If the septic system does not pass inspection, a permit application and replacement design must be submitted and the system upgraded within the time frame specified in the ordinance.