i bought a house (3 years ago) that was listed as being on the sewer
line. the owner passed away and i was buying it from her sister who
was adminstering the estate.

i have been paying the sewer bills every quarter and thought i had a
cracked sewer line. the plumbers dig and the surprise is i have a
badly neglected septic tank.

packed full after years of neglect. they pumped it out and now the big
question is how and where to hook up the sewer line. the town i live
in claims i dont have a sewer line on my street as it is a bordering
street with another town.

i'm very upset at all the surprises...i'm a new homeowner and this is
all a bit overwhelming..where and how to start???

any guidance is greatly appreciated!!


sean

In article ,
sean808080 http://www.pobox.com/~shh wrote:
i bought a house (3 years ago) that was listed as being on the sewer
line. the owner passed away and i was buying it from her sister who
was adminstering the estate.

i have been paying the sewer bills every quarter and thought i had a
cracked sewer line. the plumbers dig and the surprise is i have a
badly neglected septic tank.

packed full after years of neglect. they pumped it out and now the big
question is how and where to hook up the sewer line. the town i live
in claims i dont have a sewer line on my street as it is a bordering
street with another town.

This may or may not be true. The local plumbers should know or ask a
few neighbors. In any case if you are not now on the sewer you should
ask for a refund and sue in small claims court if they balk.

One possibility is that you are on the sewer. The house originally had
the septic tank and when sewers were put in (if they were) the outlet of
the septic tank may have been piped to the sewer instead of the leach
field. Sloppy, but possible.

Most sewer lines go past the front of the house, in or next to the
street, but some run along the rear of the property.

--
Rich Greenberg N6LRT Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507
Eastern time zone. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

"sean808080 wrote in message
i bought a house (3 years ago) that was listed as being on the sewer
line. the owner passed away and i was buying it from her sister who
was adminstering the estate.

i have been paying the sewer bills every quarter and thought i had a
cracked sewer line. the plumbers dig and the surprise is i have a
badly neglected septic tank.

packed full after years of neglect. they pumped it out and now the big
question is how and where to hook up the sewer line. the town i live
in claims i dont have a sewer line on my street as it is a bordering
street with another town.

i'm very upset at all the surprises...i'm a new homeowner and this is
all a bit overwhelming..where and how to start???

any guidance is greatly appreciated!!


sean

What did your local say about charging you sewer bills? I find it hard to
believe they would have a billing system in place for your street when there
isn't any lines. If in fact they did charge you, they owe you some green.
If you thought you had city sewer and were getting over because they never
charged you, you're seeing the end result.

Next on the agenda is, it sounds as if your SOL literally for city sewer.
Welcome to the country.

I would start by researching how long that address had been billed for a
sewer line. Usually you need some sort of permit to connect to a sewer and
a fee is paid, then the billing starts. Find out if a fee was ever paid or
a permit applied for. Some cities have files for each address. Ask to see
your file and all your records.

Then find out if you can keep your septic tank or if you are required to be
on the sewer. And how long you have to connect.

If required to be on the sewer, get an estimate for connection which may
include running a line in the street (seriously these things can cost
$40,000!), and system development and other fees to the city. Also may
include traffic control (people standing in street with slow/stop signs)
and of course connection to your home. Then replacing landscaping which
would be torn up.
Then get a good lawyer.

If you can keep the septic tank, may just want to do this as it will
probably cost less. Ask for a refund for all the years of payments
including prior to when you purchased the house.

Note: People working in government are not always very bright. Don't just
talk to the front office person, also ask to speak with an accountant/CPA
type who is in charge of the billing. You may be required to pay for a
portion of the sewer even though you are not connected. Sort of like a tax.
Find out the facts first by asking several people the same questions. Many
times you will get different answers!

As for the sewer line being in the street or not, ask to see the engineer
and ask the same question. Ask to see of map of their sewer lines in your
area and get a copy if possible. Sometimes these people have no idea what
they have or don't have. It is amazing! (You could have a portion of your
house connected to the sewer, there may be a line run in the street, there
may be a line run through a neighbors property, you could have a portion of
your sewer connected to the next town but some arrangement was made for
your city to bill you, etc.)


"sean808080wrote in message
i bought a house (3 years ago) that was listed as being on the sewer
line. the owner passed away and i was buying it from her sister who
was adminstering the estate.

i have been paying the sewer bills every quarter and thought i had a
cracked sewer line. the plumbers dig and the surprise is i have a
badly neglected septic tank.

packed full after years of neglect. they pumped it out and now the big
question is how and where to hook up the sewer line. the town i live
in claims i dont have a sewer line on my street as it is a bordering
street with another town.

i'm very upset at all the surprises...i'm a new homeowner and this is
all a bit overwhelming..where and how to start???

any guidance is greatly appreciated!!


sean

"sean808080 http://www.pobox.com/~shh" wrote in message
om...
i bought a house (3 years ago) that was listed as being on the sewer
line. the owner passed away and i was buying it from her sister who
was adminstering the estate.

i have been paying the sewer bills every quarter and thought i had a
cracked sewer line. the plumbers dig and the surprise is i have a
badly neglected septic tank.

packed full after years of neglect. they pumped it out and now the big
question is how and where to hook up the sewer line. the town i live
in claims i dont have a sewer line on my street as it is a bordering
street with another town.

i'm very upset at all the surprises...i'm a new homeowner and this is
all a bit overwhelming..where and how to start???

any guidance is greatly appreciated!!


sean

Do you have neighbors? Have you talked to them? Find out if they are being
billed for sewer access. They may be in the same bind you're in.

That's where I'd start.

Brigitte

On 1 Sep 2004 15:10:17 -0700, someone wrote:

i have been paying the sewer bills every quarter....
cut the town i live
in claims i dont have a sewer line on my street as it is a bordering
street with another town.

Well, it seems like your town needs to reconcile SOMETHING here!

Obviously, if you have no sewer, the Q is why they are charging you
sewer tax. (Just being on a bordering street is no reason you can't
have sewers.)

A septic TANK is something that feeds into a leaching field. Its not
just keeping the tank, you have to have a useable field also. The
sewage doesn't just go to the tank and get transported to another
universe, the liquid discharges into the ground after biological
action breaks down (some of the) solids somewhat.

If the former owner was also being charged for sewer every quarter,
then they may very well have thought they were on sewer, just like you
did. If so, that's not "misrepresentation" (which usually is applied
to intentional frauds), its more like "mutual mistake".

1) - get the Town to straighten out the sewer facts - do you or don't
you, were you really being charged for sewer, do you have to hook up
or can't you hook up.

2) - get an excavating contractor to look at your situation after you
know if you have a sewer to hook up to or not, and give you a proposal
& estimate on what to do.

The fun of being an owner.....

-v.

thanks everyone for the advice. an update....i have now paid out over
14,000 to the plumbers and the neighboring town to connect my home to
the sewer. the neighbors on my street are doing the same work now so
there are three houses all with yards and streets torn up. misery
loves company i suppose.

now i spoke to my closing attorney and he after much delay basically
told me ' its expensive to sue....' great legal advice eh? so i called
around to another attorney who said he needed to see my file from the
old attorney. now i'm waiting for my file which my closing attorney
said would take a while to get. thats service!

the new attorney said that the title search done by the closing
attorney should have come up with something regarding this so i'm
wondering if the delays are someone trying to cover up for an error.


to recap, the home was represented as being on the sewer by the sellers
estate, the home inspector confirmed, the uniform appraisal by the
bank....no one at any point ever said anything about septic. if one
person had said the words i could have saved a lot of money.


so at this point i'm just playing the waiting game trying to recover
some of this 14,000!!
thanks again for any wisdom !


sean

http://www.xanga.com/sean808080