JLC • NEW ENGLAND UPDATE • FEBRUARY 1996 JLC • NEW ENGLAND UPDATE • AUGUST 1996
Mass. Septic Regs
Raise a Stink
But builders remain optimistic
the air will clear
When the Massachusetts
Department of Environmental
Protection released its new septic
regulations in early 1995, it
knew the regulations, which
require homeowners to upgrade
or replace any substandard septic
system before selling their
homes, would hinder a few
house sales. But no one expected
the hundreds of stories about
real estate deals that went south
because the expense of meeting
the requirements erased the
equity the owners were counting
on to upgrade or move.
There's no way to count the
precise numbers, but no one now
really denies that the 15-monthold
regulations, known as