In most of Pennsylvania, what happens underground on a property is the buyer's problem to discover after closing. A home inspector checks the roof, the furnace, the electrical panel. Nobody puts a camera down the sewer line unless someone asks and pays extra for it. Emmaus Borough decided that arrangement wasn't good enough anymore.
Since the ordinance took effect this spring, every home sale or transfer inside Emmaus Borough limits now requires the sewer lateral, the pipe connecting the house to the borough's main line, to be tested and certified before the deal closes. That's not a suggestion from a home inspector. It's a borough requirement with a fee schedule, a certificate, and a paper trail through Borough Hall.
What the ordinance actually requires
Emmaus Borough Council introduced the sewer lateral testing ordinance in December 2025, after roughly six months of planning by the borough's public works department, and the rule took effect this spring. It requires a licensed journeyman or master plumber to inspect the building sewer and lateral before a property changes hands, using air, water, or video inspection methods at the borough's discretion.
Sellers have two paths. The borough itself will perform the inspection for $275 under the current fee schedule, and the seller schedules it through the Water/Sewer Billing Department at 610-965-9231. Or the seller can hire a private licensed plumber and submit the results directly to Borough Hall at 28 S. 4th Street, either hand-delivered to the Zoning Office in the basement or left in the drop box outside. Either way, the video and report go to the Zoning Officer for review.
If the lateral passes, the borough issues a Sewer Lateral Certificate that's good for two years. If it doesn't pass, the property owner is responsible for making repairs and scheduling a reinspection before the sale can proceed.
Borough Manager Shane Pepe explained the reasoning at the time the ordinance was introduced:
"These inspections are federally mandated. They aren't something we want to do, we have to do it. We spent six months planning, reviewing and determining how we are going to deal with this and this isn't our only stormwater problem."
Why this rule exists now
The push isn't a local invention. It traces back to a 2009 EPA consent order that set requirements for municipalities whose sewage is treated at the Allentown City Kline's Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, part of a regional plan to reduce stormwater and groundwater getting into sanitary sewer lines through cracks and bad connections, a problem engineers call inflow and infiltration. The EPA estimates that at least half of that infiltration comes from private property, not municipal infrastructure, which is why the inspection burden lands on homeowners rather than the borough's own pipes.
The Lehigh County Authority identified lateral sewer pipes specifically as the biggest problem within Emmaus's sewer system. Part of the reason is age. Much of the system's underground infrastructure is nearly 70 years old, built with clay pipe that cracks over time and gives tree roots an opening to grow into the line. A pipe can carry sewage without incident for years and then fail all at once, which is exactly the scenario this ordinance is built to catch before it becomes the new owner's problem.
The real math: what a failed inspection costs
This is where the ordinance matters more to a transaction than it first appears. The $275 borough inspection fee is a small line item next to everything else in a closing. The risk isn't the inspection cost. It's what happens if the lateral fails.
According to figures cited when the ordinance was introduced, a full lateral replacement runs an estimated $2,500 to $3,000 for a homeowner. Partial repairs, like slip lining or spot repair of a damaged section, can bring that down to around $1,000. Those are borough-cited estimates from the time the rule was adopted, and actual bids will vary by contractor and by how much digging a repair requires, but they give sellers a real number to plan around instead of an open-ended unknown.
| Scenario | Estimated cost | Who typically arranges it |
|---|---|---|
| Borough-performed inspection | $275 | Seller, via Water/Sewer Billing Dept. |
| Private plumber inspection | Varies, often comparable or higher | Seller's choice of licensed plumber |
| Partial repair (slip lining, spot fix) | Around $1,000 | Property owner before reinspection |
| Full lateral replacement | $2,500 to $3,000 | Property owner before reinspection |
The practical risk is timing, not dollars. A repair that requires digging up a section of lawn or driveway doesn't happen overnight, and if a buyer's mortgage commitment has a closing date attached to it, a failed lateral discovered two weeks before settlement can force a scramble that nobody built into the contract.
The exemptions most people miss
Not every Emmaus sale requires a fresh inspection, and knowing the carve-outs can save a seller time and money.
A property is exempt if the building sewer or lateral was newly constructed or fully replaced within the prior 10 years, provided the owner can document it to the Public Works Inspector's satisfaction. A seller who already has a passed inspection from within the last two years can request a waiver instead of paying for a second one. Transfers between direct relatives, meaning parents, children, siblings, step-relatives, and spouses, are also treated differently under the ordinance than a standard arm's length sale.
None of these exemptions are automatic. A seller has to raise them and provide documentation, which means the smartest move is figuring out early whether a property qualifies rather than assuming it does.
Building this into a listing timeline
For a seller weighing when to list a home in Emmaus, the sewer lateral requirement is a scheduling question as much as a financial one. Ordering the inspection before the home goes on the market, rather than after an offer is accepted, gives a seller time to handle any repair on their own timeline instead of a buyer's financing deadline. It also means the certificate can be part of the listing paperwork from day one, which tends to reassure buyers who are comparing an Emmaus property against a similar one in a neighboring township without this requirement.
For a buyer moving from outside the borough, the lesson is different but just as useful. This rule is specific to Emmaus. A property a few blocks away in Upper Milford Township or Lower Macungie Township isn't governed by the same ordinance, so a buyer comparing homes across borough lines should ask directly whether a lateral certificate applies rather than assuming the rule is uniform across the Lehigh Valley.
A few common questions
Does this apply if I'm refinancing, not selling? No. The ordinance is triggered by a sale or transfer of the property, defined as the execution of an Agreement of Sale. Refinancing alone doesn't require a new lateral inspection or certificate.
What if I inherited the house and I'm not planning to sell right away? The requirement is tied to the sale or transfer, so a property that changes hands through inheritance without an immediate resale wouldn't need the certificate until it's actually put on the market, though the direct-relative exemption may apply if the transfer itself is between qualifying family members.
Who pays for repairs if the lateral fails during a pending sale? The ordinance places responsibility on the property owner, and in practice that gets negotiated in the Agreement of Sale like any other repair item. Some sellers handle it before listing to keep it off the negotiating table entirely.
The sewer lateral requirement is a small piece of paperwork with an outsized ability to slow down a closing if nobody plans for it. Getting ahead of it, before a buyer is on a financing clock, is the difference between a routine inspection and a scramble.
If you're preparing to list a home in Emmaus, or comparing it against another Lehigh Valley borough with a different set of rules, Renée Marinelli at AskForRenee can walk you through what this requirement means for your specific timeline. Schedule a consultation to talk through the details before they become a surprise at the closing table.
