Side sewers in Seattle: the card, the scope, and who pays

6 min read · 8 sections
By Henos Adhana · Licensed WA Real Estate Broker #25016434 · eXp Realty

If you own a Seattle house, you own its side sewer all the way to the public main under the street, past your property line. Before you buy, look up the side sewer card on the city's map, then have the line scoped. One Seattle inspector lists a standard scope at $300, which is small money next to a repair in the street.

What you own, in the city's words#

Every house has a pipe that carries everything from its sinks, toilets and drains to the public sewer. Seattle calls it a side sewer, and Seattle Public Utilities is blunt about who owns it: if you own the home, you own the side sewer to the public sewer main, and the main sits under a street near the house.

So the pipe stays yours after it leaves your lot. The stretch under the parking strip and the street is yours to maintain and repair. The utility's job starts at the main.

The rules are in chapter 21.16 of the Seattle Municipal Code. None of it shows up at a showing, which is why it catches so many first-time owners out.

Sources

• Your side sewer, Seattle Public Utilities

Start with the side sewer card#

Before you book anything, look the house up on the city's Side Sewer Cards and Map viewer. For any parcel inside the city limits it shows side sewer lateral maps, aerial photos and the cards themselves.

A card is the city's record of permitted side sewer work at that address. The cards are scans of paper records, so the older ones take some squinting. Read one for three things: where the pipe leaves the house, whether it joins a neighbor's pipe before it reaches the main, and whether a repair or replacement was ever permitted.

Send the card to whoever scopes the line. It tells them where to look, and it helps both of you tell original pipe from a later repair.

Sources

• Side Sewer Cards and Map, Seattle Public Utilities

What a scope shows, and what it costs#

A sewer scope is a camera pushed through the side sewer, usually from a cleanout, and recorded all the way to the main. It is normally booked separately from the home inspection. Some home inspectors offer it as an add-on, and some firms do nothing else.

Emerald City Sewer Inspection lists its standard Seattle scope at $300, with the video online and the report the same day. Prices vary by company and by how easy the line is to get into, so treat that as a reference point rather than a quote.

The inspector is looking for roots coming in at the joints, cracks and breaks, sections that have shifted out of line, low spots where water sits, and the state of the connection at the main. Ask for the video, not just the summary. It is the first thing a contractor will want to see when you ask for a bid.

If the trouble looks like it is at the main, Seattle Public Utilities will review your scope video, and it can check whether it already has video of your connection.

Sources

• Standard Seattle sewer inspection pricing, Emerald City Sewer Inspection

Shared side sewers#

On plenty of older blocks, two or more houses share a side sewer. Each house has its own pipe until they meet, and one pipe carries on to the main. The card and the city's map will often show it.

The city's rule is simple. From the point where the pipes join, you and your neighbors share the maintenance and repair. The code names owners, operators and occupants as responsible parties, and makes the liability joint and several, which in plain terms means the city can look to any one of you for the whole job.

If a scope finds a problem past the junction, the repair is a conversation with the neighbors. Seattle Public Utilities suggests agreeing on the work and the contractor together, and getting at least three bids. As a buyer, you want to know about a shared line before you are under contract, not after.

If the scope comes back bad#

A bad scope is common enough on old pipe that it should not end a purchase on its own. It is a number, and numbers can be negotiated.

First, get the number. Have side sewer contractors quote from the video, and get more than one quote, because the fix can be anything from a spot repair to lining the old pipe to digging up the street and replacing it.

Then decide what to ask for. My usual advice is a credit or a lower price rather than asking the seller to do the work. With a credit you choose the contractor and the fix, and nobody argues over a repair someone else rushed through the week before closing. Lenders cap how large a seller credit can be, so a big repair is often cleaner as a price reduction.

If the numbers do not work, the inspection contingency is your way out. That is one reason to keep one in an offer on an older house, or to scope before you offer if you plan to waive it.

If you are the one selling#

Scope before you list. A clean video in the disclosure packet takes one worry off the table for every buyer who walks through. If it is not clean, you find out while you still control the timing and the fix.

Form 17, the seller disclosure statement, has a section on the sewer. Washington does not hold a seller liable for an error they had no actual knowledge of. Once you have seen a bad scope, though, you know, and it belongs in the disclosure.

Repairs need permits. Most side sewer repair and replacement work needs a side sewer permit, and work in the street needs a Street Use permit as well. The side sewer permit line is (206) 684-5362.

Sources

• The seller disclosure statement, RCW 64.06.020, Washington State Legislature
• Seller liability, RCW 64.06.050, Washington State Legislature
• How do I apply for a Street Use side sewer permit?, Seattle Services Portal

Help paying for it#

Seattle Public Utilities offers interest-free loans for side sewer repairs to low- and fixed-income customers. If that could be you, ask before you sign with a contractor.

Otherwise the usual rules apply. Get three bids, read what each one actually includes, and check whether the price covers the permit and putting the sidewalk or street back.

Common questions#