Sewer Lateral Ordinance

Effective January 16, 2012, the city of Oakland, Emeryville, Piedmont, Kensington, El Cerrito & Richmond Annex will now have to adhere to the East Bay MUD sewer lateral compliance.

When buying a property, a compliance certificate must be issued before title can be transferred to a new owner.  This requirement can lead to some concerns for buyers when purchasing a property in Oakland, Emeryville, or Piedmont areas.  The reason for this concern is that the current market in the Oakland, Emeryville, and Piedmont areas are very competitive for buyers.  As a result of the competition, many sellers are obtaining offers where
the buyer is agreeing to pay for the sewer lateral compliance. 
 
Before a compliance certificate can be issued, the private sewer lateral has to be inspected and if any deficiencies are found in the private sewer lateral then the repairs must be made in order to obtain the compliance certificate.  Many buyers that I currently work with are concerned about paying money to fix deficiencies in the private sewer lateral on a property that they do not even own.    
 
Fortunately, who ever created this new compliance requirement had the foresight to understand this concern.  Therefore, a Time Extension Certificate can be obtained very easily by buyers.  A 180-day time extension can be obtained from the East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral Program which allows title to be transferred before any work is actually done on the property.    
 
So on behalf of buyers that are currently trying to purchase a property in the areas that the Sewer lateral Compliance applies, I would like to say thank you for the foresight!