If you put it in the contract and he agrees, the only law that becomes
relevant is contract law. A good Realtor should be familiar with the
relevant legalities but my sense is that if it is covered and locked such
that an inquiring 11 year old boy cannot climb inside, it's legal. There
probably is no criminal code but civil prosicution for negligence if someone
does get hurt would be a major concern. Furthermore, the insurance company
might have a specific issue with that feature.

What are we talking about, 5 yards of crushed stone delivered for less than
$500. Will make a great dry well for draining the gutters once filled with
drain rock or just nothing if filled with loam or base material. Make sure
it is compacted as it is filled or it will form a sink hole in the future.
He can get a couple of day laborers from in front of HD if he is too lazy to
do it himself for another $100

For a good job, have him remove the lining brick from the top foot or so in
case you ever want to till the yard, you won't hit it. Just knock it off
the top into the well before filling it.

A $500 fix-it item should be nothing to the seller


"herlihyboy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I hope this is relevant to this group. We are looking at buying a
home. When the seller built the home, he lived in a trailer on the
property while building it. During that time, his water came from a
well [brick-lined, open] and he said the quality was bad. So, he put
in a cistern to service the new home instead of using the well [home
and cistern are ~10 years old].

Is it legal to sell the home with the well open? It has a heavy, metal
lid over the opening, but I'm wondering more about the laws around
whether or not he is required to fill the well before selling it? We
may choose to include that in our contract anyway.

We're in SW Indiana.

Thanks,

Ryan