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Buying a Longview Home With an Aerobic Septic System

An aerobic system comes with paperwork that lives in the Gregg County deed records and a maintenance contract that has to carry on after you close. Here is what Texas rules and the county require of a buyer, and what to check before you sign.

The permit transfers with the house

Under 30 TAC §285.3(a)(3), a septic permit transfers to the new owner automatically on sale or other legal transfer. The notice of approval for a system is issued in the owner's name with a unique number, so ask the seller for it, or ask the permitting authority for the file. Outside city limits that is the Gregg County Health Department; inside an incorporated city, ask the city which office permits septic systems there, because the county order covers a city only where it has contracted with the county. Gregg County's affidavit form says a copy of the system's planning materials can be obtained from the health department, and those show what was designed and where the parts are.

Look for the affidavit in the deed records

For aerobic and other systems that need continuous maintenance, §285.3(b)(3) requires an affidavit recorded in the county deed records before the system is authorized. It names the owner, describes the land, says there is a system needing continuous maintenance, and says the permit transfers to a new owner.

Gregg County's version is titled "Certification of OSSF Requiring Maintenance". It states that the system must be covered by a continuous maintenance contract, that an approved maintenance company must do all maintenance, and that a signed contract must reach the Gregg County Health Department within 30 days before an existing contract expires and after the property is transferred. It also commits the owner to request a transfer of the permit on any sale. The county's surface application policy calls it the Affidavit to the Public and has it filed with the County Clerk.

You have 30 days after closing

The state affidavit rule covers single-family aerobic systems: after the initial two-year service policy, the owner either gets a maintenance contract within 30 days of the transfer or maintains the system personally. Gregg County narrows the second option. Its 2026 order lets owners maintain their own system only in limited cases, set out on our 2026 county order page. For most buyers, that means signing a contract with a registered provider and filing it with the health department within 30 days.

Line up the provider before closing. The maintenance contract page explains what the contract covers.

What to ask the seller for

• The notice of approval and the permit number.
• The planning materials: site evaluation and system design.
• The current maintenance contract, with its end date.
• The last few inspection reports. Under the 2026 order each report records the pump tank sludge level and the spray area condition, so read both lines.
• Proof that the affidavit was recorded.

Read the reports, not just the contract

A contract on paper does not tell you whether visits happened. TCEQ requires the maintenance provider to inspect every component on each visit, note whether each one works, and send a report to the permitting authority and the owner, with each report due within 14 days of the test. In Gregg County the visits are at least every three months. A gap of six months in the seller's pile of reports is worth a question, and so is a sludge reading that climbs report after report.

If the seller has lost the reports, the health department holds the county file. Ask early in your option period.

Walk the spray area

Most Gregg County aerobic systems spray treated water on the lawn. TCEQ's Table X sets the distances the spray area must keep: 20 ft to a property line, which can drop to 10 ft where a commercial timer runs the sprinklers, 25 ft to a swimming pool, 100 ft to a private well and 75 ft to a stream, pond or lake. A fence, shed or pool added after the system was permitted can break those distances, so compare the design with what is on the ground now. The full table is on our setbacks page.

Open the chlorinator too. An empty tube means untreated water is going on the lawn, and our chlorine tablets guide explains which tablets are allowed.

Older systems and the exemption that ends with a repair

Under §285.3(f)(1), a system installed before 1 September 1989 is exempt from permitting if it causes no nuisance, has not been altered and does not need repair. Once it needs a repair, the exemption no longer fits, and where the Gregg County order applies, it requires a permit and inspection for any repair. Inside city limits, check the city's rules. If the house is older and has no permit on file, budget for that possibility. Our inspection page covers what a pre-purchase inspection looks at.

Questions people ask

Does the septic permit transfer when I buy the house?

Yes. Under 30 TAC §285.3(a)(3), permits transfer to the new owner automatically on sale or other legal transfer.

How long do I have to get a maintenance contract after closing?

Gregg County's recorded affidavit says a signed maintenance contract must be submitted to the Gregg County Health Department within 30 days after the property is transferred.

Where is the affidavit recorded?

In the Gregg County deed records. The county's surface application policy has it filed in the County Clerk's office, with a copy to the health department.