Title 23
Health and Safety

Chapter 19.5
Percolation Tests and Water Table Elevation Determinations

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-19.5-1

§ 23-19.5-1. When test and determination and/or data required — Filing of results.

(a) No parcel of real property that is not readily accessible to a public sewer system shall be advertised or represented as being for sale or other transfer or conveyance as a “buildable”, or “developable” property, so called, unless the seller shall first apply for and receive from the department of environmental management either a valid certification of the property’s suitability for development as part of a subdivision or a valid approval for the installation of an individual sewage disposal system(s) on the property.

(b) A public sewer shall be presumed to be readily accessible to a parcel of property if it is located within two hundred (200) feet of any property line of the parcel of property.

(c) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from selling a parcel of property as “raw land”, so called, without making any representations as to its ability to be developed. In this case, the seller shall, at the first available opportunity, expressly advise any prospective buyer that the property has not been certified for development as part of a subdivision or approved by the department of environmental management as being suitable for the on-site disposal of sanitary sewage or other liquid waste. When conveying property in this manner, a seller shall not accept any offer, sign any purchase and sale agreement, complete any closing or enter into any other agreement for transfer or conveyance of property without requiring the buyer to acknowledge, in writing, that the property has not been approved by the department of environmental management as being suitable for the on-site disposal of sanitary sewage or other liquid waste.

History of Section.
P.L. 1976, ch. 269, § 1; P.L. 1977, ch. 182, § 10; G.L. 1956, § 23-55-1; P.L. 1979, ch. 39, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 23-19.5-1; P.L. 1992, ch. 266, § 1.