May also mean the house is on septic but a new sewer has been run down the street and was never connected to the house.
You need to determine the exact meaning and then get estimates.

 

(Joed types faster). Check with the municipality. If that's the case, depending on the jurisdiction, there may be a requirement to connect in x years after the line was installed. They do this to recover the capital costs. If you're lucky and the sewer is there but connection is optional, then it's your call. How much it would cost varies by location.

 

Start small with 1 place, its easy to get in over your head in this area.

 

Yeah, I am trying to be real careful with my first one.

 

You need a local authority to tell you what that means.
Installing a septic can be easy or really hard. That also means less expensive to very expensive.
Where I live you have to have an engineers stamp on the drawing for the septic system.

Check Infiltrator products. I got my 1050 tank (2 bath rooms) and 108 feet of leach field for about $4000. Digging extra. I installed most of it myself and it was easy, snap together.
When I was investingating the issue I found Infiltrator products accepted universally. ( internationally)

 

My guess is it means you have to abandon the septic tank and connect to city sewer given a time frame. May be the time frame has run out and the current owner has been cited and owe fines to the city, may be there is an open permit for the connection but the project got put on hold halfway through because of a giant protected tree with a 30 foot radius root spread blocking the excavation and the owner gave up. You have due diligence to do.

 

Thanks guys. I didnt even get as far as the plumbing. House had foundation damage.

 

Remember, when you see a house that has been on the market for a few weeks and looks to be a good price, most likely several potential "experienced" buyers have already turned it down. Are you better than they are?

Bud

 

I dont know. I do know I am able to do most everything on my own which gives me an advantage. I am prepared to go down to studs and start over at the right price. I cross foundation issues off the list.

 

Back to the original question, I agree with the other posters that you need to find out from the locality what that means. If the place has a septic system, you may or may not have to connect to public sewer. You may or may not even have public sewer available.

Here it means exactly what it says--the home is not connected to public sewer; if public sewer is available, in this area owners are generally not required to connect to public sewer unless the existing septic system fails. If it is on a septic system you should contact the permitting agency to find out if they have any history on the system and also have it inspected by a reputable inspector.

 

In our area when public sewers are added a sewer district is formed. Property owners who live in the proposed district vote on establishing the district. If it passes, the district is formed and every property is assessed with paying for the infrastructure over a number of years. Connecting is optional but paying the annual assessment until the debt is retired is not optional. Sewer line not connected probably means sewer is available but not used. Look into whether a sewer district assessment is on the property tax bill. The cost to connect depends on what your connection fee is, the length of pipe and trench needed, interior modifications needed, and your local labor rates.