Bad septic in NJ

[terri0515]

I bought a house here in NJ on December 30, 2004. I discovered just a few months later that the septic system needs to be completely replaced. The former owners diverted the water away from the house. I have the tubing they used as well as photographs.

The guy who certified the septic is a bum! He did not follow the NJDEP GUIDELINES when he cetified the tank.

A lawyer I contacted said that this case is difficult because there are no LAWS.

I went to Fred Madden's office asking for laws to be put into place and I have basically been IGNORED!

What can I do? I cannot afford a new septic. I am a very disabled cancer survivor.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I bought a house here in NJ on December 30, 2004. I discovered just a few months later that the septic system needs to be completely replaced. The former owners diverted the water away from the house. I have the tubing they used as well as photographs.

The guy who certified the septic is a bum! He did not follow the NJDEP GUIDELINES when he cetified the tank.

A lawyer I contacted said that this case is difficult because there are no LAWS.

I went to Fred Madden's office asking for laws to be put into place and I have basically been IGNORED!

What can I do? I cannot afford a new septic. I am a very disabled cancer survivor.

I am sorry to hear about your predicament and wish I could give you great news. This is not such an easy case. You will likely not be able to go after the sellers of the house and it seems you already know that. Was this an item that the sellers tried to hide when selling the house? Was the house inspected?

Now how do you know the job wasn't done properly? If you do, then perhaps the most direct remedy would be to pursue the contractor who performed the job do it right this time. You will want to have all the documentation in place so that this person feels a need to correct a prior mistake.

 

[terri0515]

Thanks for the response. The house inspector my real estate agent hired told me that he was only responsible for certain things. Septic is not one of them. He did not inspect the septic.

There was snow on the ground outside so no one saw the line going from the washer to the side of the house. The old owners had the water draining that way since the septic was overflowing so badly.

The guy who certified the septic was supposed to follow NJDEP guidelines and the septic was supposed to be pumped and the examined. It was not. He ran water for 15 minutes and certified it WITHOUT even digging up the D-Box!