Manistee and Kalkaska County Point of Sale Septic Regulation

As of April 1, 2009, both Manistee and Kalkaska County adopted a regulation that requires a septic inspection to be conducted at the point of sale of any property within those counties. As you might imagine, this has raised a number of concerns, both financial and logistically, within the real estate community in those areas. To view the actual regulations, go to http://www.dhd10.org/EHForms/Manistee_Kalkaska_POS.pdf.

An important item to point out is that the health department is not going to require that all systems are brought up to modern code, but that they are properly functioning to safely remove sewage from the residence and not affecting the safety of nearby water wells. It's important to read the entire document because there are some differences between Kalkaska and Manistee County's rules.

In a nutshell, no property can be sold in either county until the owner has an inspection completed and their system is considered "satisfactory" or it has been given a "satisfactory" rating within the prior 12 months. Sale to a direct family member and a few other categories are exempt from the regulations. If the system has not been pumped within the past two years and documentation can be provided to prove such, the sytem must be pumped prior to the inspection.

The fee for The Kalkaska County Health Department (Distrit Health Department #10) to conduct the assessment is $240. The assessement may be conducted by a certified private company and their fees are individually set.

Should a system be deemed "unsuitable", the system must either be repaired to The Health Departments Standard or an amount of money equal to 1 1/2 times the estimated amount of repair must be placed in an escrow account until the repairs can be completed. This will certainly be the case for properties sold during the winter months.

For those selling their properties in Kalkaska or Manistee Counties, we would recommend that you have your system assessed well in advance of receiving an offer to purchase in order to avoid a delay in closing and the possibility of running into unforeseen costs that may cause the transaction to fall apart.

More information and contact information for the health department is available at www.dhd10.org.