NYS Housing and Anti-Discrimination Notice
Why This Comes Up So Often on a Coram Sale
I have closed seven sales in Coram, and every one of those houses went up in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Three of the seven went up before 1970. None were new construction. These are houses old enough that I would want to know what the original sanitary system is and when anyone last looked at it.
None of this has made these houses hard to sell. Most of them sold at or over asking, and the typical one went in under a month. The one that sat longest was a 1969 house, but age alone does not explain it, since one of the 1967 houses sold in under a month. Picture the cesspool question surfacing late, at inspection, when the buyer's attorney asks for the Health Department file and nobody has one. I would rather have that document in hand before the sign goes in the yard.
What The Rule Actually Is
Suffolk County regulates cesspools, septic tanks and modern treatment systems under Article 6 of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code, which covers both new construction and the retrofit of failing systems. The code treats a system as failed when, among other things, it needs
pumping of the Cesspool, septic tank, I/A OWTS, or Leaching Structure... four or more times per year due to the infiltration of groundwater into the system, a collapsed Leaching Structure, or clogged Absorption Area which does not allow effluent to infiltrate the surrounding soils
Suffolk County Sanitary Code, Article 6
In most of the county a working system does not have to be replaced because the house is sold, though some high-priority environmental zones can require it at sale. Replacement becomes mandatory on failure, on new construction, on an addition that adds bedrooms and wastewater load, or when renovation work crosses the county's "major reconstruction" line, defined as work costing 50 percent or more of the property's market value. Since July 2019, a bare in-kind cesspool swap is no longer allowed; at minimum a septic tank must be added, and most residential replacements today are built as nitrogen reducing I/A systems to meet current standards. Properties inside a municipal sewer district are generally exempt from all of this, and from the grant program below.
What It Costs and How Long It Takes
These figures come from licensed installers and the county's own program material. A plain in-kind replacement of a cesspool or conventional system runs roughly $12,000 to $25,000 on Long Island. A modern I/A system costs more, typically $18,000 to $40,000 before any grant, with the final number driven by lot access, water table depth, and whether the leach field also needs rebuilding.
Most homeowners now choose the I/A system because of the county's incentive: the Septic Improvement Program currently offers a $20,000 grant toward it. The county's current guidance also lists New York State's Septic System Replacement Program, at up to $25,000. The grant has to be approved before installation starts, the old system has to be abandoned rather than patched, and the property can't have tax liens or be in foreclosure, must be current on taxes, and must have a valid Certificate of Occupancy. The Office of Wastewater Management, which handles permit review, does not publish a fixed turnaround time but says a complete application with design plan moves faster than an incomplete one. A design professional or installer already on the county's approved list is the fastest way through.
What I Would Do Before Listing a House Like These
If I were listing one of these older Coram houses again, the first call I'd make is to the seller's regular pumper, or a licensed hauler if there isn't one, to ask how often the tank has actually been pumped and whether there's any history of backups or extra visits. Four or more pump-outs a year for groundwater or a clogged field is the county's own line for a failed system, and I'd rather know that number before a buyer's inspector finds it.
The second thing I'd ask for is the Health Department file itself: the original permit or any retrofit approval the county has on file. I think a missing file is the most likely gap on an older Coram house, and I would rather say that plainly to a seller than assume the inspection will stay quiet.
A buyer walking into one of these houses should ask the same two questions before leaning on the inspection report alone: when was the system last pumped and by whom, and does the seller have any county paperwork on it at all. A clean pumper's report is reassuring, but it is not the same as approved county paperwork, and I would not be surprised to find an older house without any. It's something to price for, not be surprised by at contract.
