Nothing is easy in Oakland.  And the recently enacted Oakland Sewer Ordinance is no exception.  Actually, it is not Oakland’s doing.  It stems from an EPA suit where each city is required to develop a plan for repairing and operating all sewer pipes in their city.

The Oakland Sewer Ordinance, which is administered by East Bay MUD, went into effect January 17, 2012.  It requires that any person selling an Oakland property or conducting a remodeling project of over $100,000 enacted after January 17 must obtain a “Compliance Certificate” from EBMUD.  (Presently, this is a cumbersome process best left to the plumber doing the work.)

Since most homes in Oakland have old clay sewer lines, that means the sewer line (also called the sewer lateral) must be replaced.  Similar ordinances have already gone into effect in Berkeley, Alameda, Albany, El Cerrito and Piedmont.  Unfortunately, in Oakland’s case, it requires the sewer be replaced to the middle of the street, which costs more than the other communities.  Most sewer replacements in Oakland are running upwards of $5000.

In the case of selling your Oakland house, it usually means either replacing the sewer … or getting the Buyer to agree to do it within six months and ponying up a $4500 deposit.  That’s a big chunk of change for most Oakland Buyers to handle on top of a downpayment.  So it’s likely most Sellers will be doing their sewers when they put the house on the East Bay market.

Despite that, the silver lining in all of this is we will have cleaner ground water – due to less leaching of sewer water into the soil.  So remember that when you’re plunking down your $5000.

Article by Barbara Reynolds

Berkeley-Oakland Real Estate: Barbara Reynolds, Buyer’s Agent Listing agent, Luxury Homes, Investment McGuire Real Estate.