Buying a House With a Septic System: Kaufman County Checklist

How to use this septic checklist

Work through it in order, because each phase feeds the next. What you learn before the offer tells you how long an option period to ask for. What the inspection finds tells you what to negotiate. What you negotiate tells you what has to be done and documented before closing.

This page is the whole checklist on one screen. If you want the day-by-day plan for the option period itself, including which TREC contract paragraphs to check, use our guide to septic due diligence inside a Texas option period. If you want to know exactly what an inspector looks at, see what a septic inspection covers.

Before you make an offer: 8 septic checks

You can answer most of the big septic questions before you sign anything. None of these cost money, and a couple of them can change your offer price or the length of the option period you ask for.

Start on the listing and the Seller's Disclosure Notice. The statutory Texas form asks the seller whether the property has a septic system or public sewer and whether they know of defects in plumbing, sewers, or septics. An unchecked box or an Unknown is not an answer. It is a question for the listing agent.

• Confirm the house is on septic at all, not city sewer. Some Forney and Crandall addresses are on sewer and some a mile away are not.
• Ask whether it is aerobic or conventional. Look at the photos for spray heads in the yard, an alarm light on a post, or a control panel on the house wall.
• Ask the listing agent for the OSSF permit, the notice of approval, and the system design or as-built drawing.^source
• Ask for the current aerobic maintenance contract and the last several inspection reports.^source
• Count bedrooms against the permit. A four-bedroom listing on a system permitted for three is a finding before anyone opens a lid.^source
• Check who permitted the system. Terrell and Oak Ridge issue their own septic permits; Kaufman County Development Services handles the rest of the county, including inside Forney, Kaufman, and Crandall city limits.^source
• Ask whether there is a private well. Texas rules want 50 feet from a well to the tank and 100 feet to the spray area or drainfield.
• Ask how old the system is and whether the aerator, pump, or panel has been replaced.

What to ask the seller about the septic system

Ask these in writing, through your agent, so the answers become part of the file. Sellers do not have to know everything, but they do have to be honest about what they know, and a vague answer tells you where to point the inspector.

Many Texas listing agents also have the seller fill out a separate on-site sewer facility information form covering system type, age, installer, maintenance contract, and when the tanks were last pumped. It is worth asking for, but it is still only the seller's recollection.^source

During the option period: 10 septic checks

The option period is the only time you can walk away for any reason and keep your earnest money, so the septic work has to fit inside it. Order the inspection the day the contract is signed.

On a Kaufman County home the list below usually takes three to five business days if you start immediately. Our septic inspection service page explains how to request one and what it typically costs.

• Book a dedicated septic inspection, not just the septic box on a general home inspection.
• Tell the inspector the system type, the bedroom count, and whether there is a well.
• Ask the inspector not to have the tank pumped before they look, so they can read the liquid level first.
• Make sure the report covers the aerator, pump, alarm, spray heads or drip field, and chlorinator on an aerobic system.
• Request the county file directly from Development Services (publicworks@kaufmancounty.net) and compare it with what the seller gave you.
• Check whether a Certificate of OSSF Requiring Maintenance is recorded in the county deed records for the property.
• Read the last three maintenance reports. In Kaufman County, aerobic systems are inspected every four months, so a year of history should be three reports.^source
• Walk the spray area yourself. Look for a shop, a pool, a fence line, or a play set built on top of it.
• Get a written repair estimate from a TCEQ-licensed contractor for anything the inspection flags.^source
• Decide before the deadline: proceed, ask for repairs or a credit, or terminate.

Records to collect before closing

On septic, missing paperwork is a finding in its own right. A system with a clean permit file and a steady run of maintenance reports is a different purchase from one with nothing on record, even if both pass the same visual inspection.^source

Collect these into one folder. You will need them for your lender, for your new maintenance provider, and one day for your own buyer.

Negotiating septic repairs before closing

If the inspection turns up a problem, you have three normal moves: ask the seller to repair it, ask for a price reduction or credit, or terminate. On small aerobic items like a dead aerator or a failed float, a repair before closing is usually cleanest. On bigger problems like a failing spray field, a credit lets you pick your own contractor.

Whatever you agree, put it in a signed amendment with specific repairs, not general phrases. The TREC resale contract already says agreed repairs must be done by people licensed to do them, with any required permits, and that the seller must give you documentation of the work. In Kaufman County, anyone repairing any part of a septic system has to hold a TCEQ license.^source

For typical repair numbers, see our septic repair cost guide. If the seller never kept a maintenance contract at all, our article on what to do when the seller never had a maintenance contract covers your options.^source

At closing: the aerobic maintenance handoff

The permit follows the property, but the maintenance contract does not follow you. The seller's contract is between the seller and their provider. Line up your own contract so there is no gap on the day you take the keys.^source

Kaufman County expects the homeowner to make sure a renewal contract reaches Development Services 30 days before the old one expires, and providers file new contracts with the county. Ask the provider you choose to confirm, in writing, that they have filed your contract.^source

If you want to compare providers or understand what a contract should cost, see aerobic septic maintenance in Kaufman County.

• Signed maintenance contract in your name, starting on or before closing day^source
• Provider's confirmation that the contract was filed with Development Services
• Copies of all repair invoices and the final inspection report
• Location map of tanks, lids, and spray heads (take phone photos on the final walk-through)
• Access to the control panel and a clear explanation of the alarm

After you move in: the first 30 days

TCEQ's advice to new owners is simple: notify the local permitting authority that you are the new owner of the OSSF and ask about proper startup. In most of Kaufman County that means an email to Development Services with your name, the property address, and your provider.^source

Then learn your system before it needs you. Find the tank lids, the alarm, the breaker, and the chlorinator. Buy the right tablets. Know what the alarm sounds like. The first time it goes off at 2 a.m. is a bad time to learn where the panel is.

• Email Development Services that you are the new owner, with your provider's name
• Put the next maintenance visit and the contract expiration date on your calendar
• Keep calcium hypochlorite tablets labeled for wastewater disinfection on hand, never pool tablets^source
• Keep vehicles, trailers, and new structures off the tank and spray area
• Spread big laundry days across the week instead of running six loads on Saturday

When this checklist is overkill, and when it is not enough

On a two-year-old Forney-area home with a builder-installed aerobic system, the initial service policy still running, and three clean reports, you can move quickly. The paperwork answers most of the questions, and the inspection mostly confirms it.

On a 1980s Terrell-area home, a Kemp lake house, or anything with no records, this checklist is the minimum. Older systems may predate current rules, may be conventional, and may have been modified without a permit. Budget time to locate the tank and field, and consider having a licensed installer look at the site as well as an inspector.^source

And if the inspection shows sewage on the ground or a system that cannot be found, stop treating it as a checklist item. That is a price conversation, or a walk-away conversation.