In Burlingame, the Sewer Lateral Test Decides Who Holds the Leverage in Escrow

Most Burlingame sellers treat the sewer lateral test the way they treat the smoke detector requirement: a box to check before closing, no different from anything else on the punch list. That assumption costs people money and time, and it comes from a detail buried in an ordinance most sellers never read past the summary paragraph.

Burlingame's rule is not just a compliance step. Because the city refuses to specify who pays for the test or the repair, and because it will not accept the video inspection your home inspector already ran, the ordinance quietly hands leverage to whichever party moves first. Sellers who understand that walk into escrow controlling the number. Sellers who don't find out the hard way, usually with three weeks left before closing.

What the ordinance actually requires

Burlingame's Sewer Lateral Test Ordinance, adopted in 1986 as Ordinance 1329 and amended in 2000, lives in Municipal Code Chapter 15.12. The trigger is simple: if a structure on the property was built more than 25 years before the transfer date, the lateral connecting that building to the city's sewer main has to pass an infiltration test before title can change hands. The city calculates the 25 years from the date the original building permit was finaled, not the year construction started.

The test itself comes in two forms. Most properties get a water exfiltration test: a contractor walls off a section of pipe with a balloon, floods it with four gallons of water, waits 30 minutes, and checks how much level dropped. In hillside areas, where water pressure in the pipe can be high enough to cause damage, the city allows an air test instead, pressurizing the line to 4.0 PSI and requiring that it hold above 2.5 PSI for at least 10 seconds after a two-minute settling period. Either way, a city representative has to be there to watch it happen. That's not optional, and it's the detail that trips people up.

The detail your neighbors don't have to deal with

If you've sold or bought in Hillsborough, Millbrae, or San Carlos, you may already assume a camera scope satisfies the requirement. It doesn't in Burlingame. Hillsborough's 2012 ordinance requires a video inspection down the line. Millbrae's ordinance, under its own municipal code, calls for an in-line closed-circuit video inspection from the building to the main. San Carlos, when its rule applies at all (it's triggered by a remodel or a change from commercial to residential use, not by a standard sale), also wants video.

Burlingame is the outlier. Its ordinance was written before video inspection was standard practice and has never been updated to allow it as a substitute. The practical result: a seller who pays for a camera scope as part of a general pre-listing inspection has a useful diagnostic tool, but not a compliance document. The witnessed water or air test is a separate cost, a separate appointment, and a separate step, and skipping ahead on the assumption that "we already had it scoped" is a common and avoidable mistake.

Why the city's silence on who pays is the real story

Burlingame's ordinance is explicit about one thing and silent about another. It's explicit that the lateral must pass before title transfers. It is silent, deliberately, on who covers the cost of testing or repair. The city's own guidance says plainly that this is a matter for the parties to work out between themselves.

That silence is not a gap. It's where the negotiating happens. Since the ordinance took effect, roughly half of the laterals tested in Burlingame have failed and required repair or replacement, at costs that have historically ranged from about $1,500 for a straightforward repair to $10,000 for a full replacement. Broader 2026 Bay Area pricing for a complete lateral replacement, once permits and any surface restoration like driveway or sidewalk repair are factored in, runs closer to $8,000 to $18,000. A failure isn't rare, and it isn't cheap.

Here's where timing turns into leverage. A seller who tests before listing controls the sequence. If the lateral passes, that's a clean disclosure point that removes an objection before a buyer's agent ever raises it. If it fails, the seller picks the contractor, sets the repair timeline, and negotiates the cost as a known, itemized figure baked into the listing price or credited transparently. A seller who waits until escrow is open hands that same decision to the buyer's inspection period, where a failed test surfaces with a closing date already on the calendar and far less room to shop for pricing or scheduling. The same repair costs the same either way. Who controls when and how it gets negotiated does not.

What actually exempts you

Not every Burlingame property needs to run this test at all. The ordinance carves out several exemptions worth checking before you assume you're on the hook:

• Any lateral that passed a test within the last 10 years is exempt from retesting, provided any required repairs were also completed and inspected.
• A lateral fully replaced from the building to the city cleanout within the past 25 years is exempt.
• Piping between the structure and the city right-of-way that's under 6 feet long, with no history of maintenance problems, can be exempted by the city engineer.
• Condominium properties are currently exempt from the requirement entirely, except when a conversion to condominium ownership is involved.

The city keeps a database of prior test results, so before assuming your home has never been tested, it's worth a call to Burlingame's Public Works Engineering Division to check whether a prior owner already cleared this.

A sequence that keeps you in control

1. Confirm your building's permit-final date. If it's within 25 years of your expected closing, the ordinance doesn't apply yet.
2. Check the city's sewer lateral test database or call Public Works Engineering directly to see if a prior test is already on file and still within its validity window.
3. If testing is required, schedule it before you list, not after you accept an offer. This gives you time to shop contractor pricing and avoid the rush-job premium that comes with a failed test discovered late.
4. Don't substitute a general home inspector's camera scope for the city's witnessed test. They serve different purposes and neither replaces the other.
5. If the lateral fails, get the repair scoped and priced before you finalize your list price, so the number in your disclosure package is a fact, not a guess.

Quick answers

Does this apply if I'm selling a condo? No. Condominium and cooperative apartment units are currently exempt from Burlingame's sewer lateral testing requirement, except as a condition of a condo conversion.

What if my house is exactly 25 years old? The clock starts from the date the original building permit was finaled, not the closing date or the year construction began. If you're close to that line, confirm the exact date with the Building Department before assuming either way.

Who do I call with questions? Burlingame's Public Works Department handles the ordinance directly. Their number and the full ordinance text are posted on the city's own site, which is worth reading before you schedule anything.

This is exactly the kind of local detail that separates a smooth Burlingame closing from a stressful one, and it's the kind of thing that's easy to miss if you're managing a sale on top of everything else moving. If you're thinking about listing and want a clear-eyed read on what your specific property is worth and what it will take to get it market-ready, Caitlin Beanan can walk you through it. Get your free home valuation and find out where you actually stand before you make a single decision.