"Buying a Wisconsin Home With a Private Well: Who Is Allowed to Inspect It?"

A licensed water well driller or a licensed pump installer, and nobody else. Wisconsin does not require a well inspection before a sale, so the inspection is something you or the seller choose to order. When somebody is paid to inspect a well because a property is changing hands, state code holds that work to those two licenses. Your home inspector is not allowed to take it on.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, licensed in fifteen states, including Wisconsin.

The general home inspection usually comes back with a line saying the well was outside the inspector's scope. By then the inspection period is often half gone, and a separate contractor still has to be booked. You'll want to know about that split in the week you write the offer, because it changes who you hire and how much time you need.

Who is allowed to inspect a private well in Wisconsin?

A licensed water well driller or a licensed pump installer. The Wisconsin DNR states the rule plainly. Since June 1, 2008, anybody paid to inspect a well because a property is being sold has to hold one of those two licenses. The same rule covers anybody paid to make statements about the well at a sale.

The scheme came from 2005 Wisconsin Act 360, which built it into Wisconsin's water supply statutes, and the working detail is in Wis. Admin. Code NR 812.44.

Inspecting the well and testing the water are two separate jobs, booked separately and priced separately.

Inspecting the well and the pressure system means looking at how the well was constructed and how the pump was installed, then comparing what is there against the state well code. That is the licensed work.

Collecting a water sample and sending it to a laboratory is a different act, and the DNR says a license is not required where somebody only collects samples. So ordering one of these two jobs does not get you the other.

Does Wisconsin require a well inspection before a sale?

No. The DNR is direct about this in its guidance for buyers and sellers: the department does not require the inspection, many buyers and sellers choose to have one anyway, and some lending institutions require it.

There is also no state requirement to bring a well and pressure system into compliance so that a property can be sold. Understanding your Property Transfer Well Inspection Results (DG-092) says any decision to take corrective action is up to the buyer and the seller.

So a report that comes back showing a problem does not stop the sale by itself. It gives you something to negotiate with, while you still have the inspection period and the seller still has reasons to be helpful.

What does the Wisconsin inspection form actually report?

The inspector records everything on DNR Form 3300-221, and NR 812.44 sets out what has to be on it.

One form for each well. Where a property has more than one well, a separate form gets completed for each. On an older rural property that happens often, because a newer well frequently replaced an older one that simply got left in the ground.

Three possible outcomes. The inspector marks whether the well and pressure system comply with the chapter, comply except for needing a more comprehensive search or additional research, or do not comply. The middle mark means something about the well could not be settled from what was visible on the day.

A checked box next to a feature tells you the inspector saw something there. DG-092 explains that a checked box means noncompliance or a possible concern with that feature, and that some noncomplying features are easy to correct while others are not. Two identical checkmarks can point to corrections that cost very different amounts.

The form does not go to the DNR. Under NR 812.44 it is not submitted to the department except where somebody is requesting a variance. It goes to whoever requested the inspection.

So if the seller ordered the inspection, the seller is the one holding the completed form, and there is no state database you can look it up in afterwards. When you are the one who needs to read it, you will want to ask for it by name.

When you are reviewing the seller's documents with your agent, please ask for a copy of the completed property transfer well and pressure system inspection form, all pages. You will also want the date of the inspection and the name and license number of the person who performed it. Those three things tell you whether the report describes the well as it stands today.

What happens if the inspection finds an unused well?

An unused well is the finding that moves the most money, and the duty behind it is the one part of this that Wisconsin does make mandatory.

NR 812.44 requires the inspector to identify any unused or noncomplying well that has to be filled and sealed. It also requires them to flag a well that was filled and sealed by an unlicensed individual or an unregistered person after June 1, 2008, because a sealing job done by somebody without the license does not satisfy the requirement.

Wisconsin's well code requires an owner to permanently fill and seal a well that is no longer in use. The DNR's well filling and sealing page and Wis. Admin. Code NR 812.26 set the standard. The work is done by a licensed driller or pump installer, and the debris and piping come out first where that is possible. A filling and sealing report then goes to the department no later than 30 days after the work is finished.

So an abandoned well on land you are about to own becomes yours to fill and seal once you own it. Nobody is going to make you order the inspection, but the sealing requirement applies whether or not anybody ever looks, so a buyer on a rural Wisconsin property is usually better off having the well looked at.

Where does a Wisconsin well inspection reach your loan?

It reaches your loan in three places.

A lender's own condition. DG-092 says a lender may require noncompliance to be corrected as part of a financing agreement. When that happens, the correction stops being a negotiation between you and the seller and becomes something the file needs before closing. You'll want to tell whoever is working on your loan that the property is on a private well as soon as you are under contract, so any condition shows up early rather than in the last week.

Water quality, which is a separate question. A loan can carry its own requirements about testing the water and about who is permitted to draw the sample, and those come from the loan program rather than from Wisconsin. What a loan actually asks of a home on a well and septic system covers that ground in full. DG-092 adds that a test can detect a contaminant without the well being noncompliant under the code. So a clean water test does not tell you whether the well itself meets the code, and an inspection that finds nothing wrong does not tell you the water is safe to drink.

Cash and the calendar. Sealing an abandoned well or replacing a well cap is money somebody spends before or after closing. So is correcting the pitless adapter, which is the fitting that lets the water line leave the well below the frost line. Where the seller agrees to help, a seller credit applied at closing is one of the ways that gets handled, and it has to be written into the contract rather than agreed to in conversation.

It is also worth keeping the roles straight. An appraiser is looking at condition and marketability, and what an appraiser can require is a narrower list than what an inspector finds. A well code finding is usually yours to negotiate.

What are the steps, in order?

1. You will want to know whether the home is on a private well before you write the offer, and the listing sheet is usually where that first shows up.
2. It is worth asking the listing agent whether a property transfer well inspection has already been done, when, and by whom, since the seller may already hold a form.
3. If there is no form, you can book a licensed water well driller or licensed pump installer yourself, and the DNR keeps a list of licensed contractors on its site.
4. You can order the water testing at the same time through a laboratory, because the sampling is separate work and the results come back on their own schedule.
5. When the form comes back, you will want to read the compliance box first and then every checked feature underneath it, since the summary line does not tell you what a correction costs.
6. If the report names an unused well, you will want a quote for filling and sealing it from a licensed contractor before your inspection period ends.
7. You can then take the whole picture into the negotiation, where the seller can correct the items, credit you toward them, or adjust the price.

Where does this go wrong?

Assuming the home inspector covered it. A general home inspection is a broad look at the property, and the well falls outside what Wisconsin permits an unlicensed inspector to evaluate for pay at a transfer. A thorough-looking report can leave a buyer reasonably believing the well was included.

Treating a water test as an inspection. A clean bacteria and nitrate result covers the water on the day it was sampled. The casing, the cap, the pitless adapter and an old well left unsealed at the back of the property are all outside what that test looks at.

Letting the seller's old form stand in for a current one. A form from a prior sale describes the well as it was then. Wells age, caps come loose, and a pump gets replaced by somebody who may or may not have held the license.

Reading the middle compliance box as a pass. Where the inspector marked that additional research is needed, something is genuinely unresolved, and the time to resolve it is while you still have contingencies.

An example, with invented numbers

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism. Nothing here is a quote, a rate, or a prediction about a real property.

Say you are buying a 1987 home on five acres in rural Wisconsin. The general inspection is clean and notes that the well was not evaluated. You book a licensed pump installer, who completes Form 3300-221 and marks the well as not complying, with two features checked. One is a well cap that is not vermin proof. The other is a second well behind the barn that has never been filled and sealed.

The cap is a small job, and the abandoned well is the number that matters, because that sealing duty travels with the property to you.

Licensed well and pressure system inspection    $    425
Replacement well cap                            $    280
Filling and sealing the abandoned well          $  3,600
                                                --------
Cash the findings put in play                   $  4,305

If the seller corrects the items before closing, none of that is yours. If the seller credits you instead, the money lands on your closing statement and the work is yours to book afterwards. If neither happens and you buy the property as it is, the sealing obligation comes with it, and it lands in the same first year as the lottery and gaming credit line on your December property tax bill.

Where to start

When you are ready, you can see rates for your own scenario with a Wisconsin tax and insurance estimate built into the payment. There is no credit pull, no account, and nobody calls you afterwards. You will see several options on one sheet, and you can choose the option that works best for you.

When you want something a listing agent will take seriously, a Wisconsin pre-approval means your income, debts and credit have actually been reviewed rather than estimated. How a Wisconsin closing works covers the rest, including who pays for your owner's title policy here.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal advice. The well rules described above are Wisconsin administrative code, their current text belongs to the state, and how they apply to a specific property is a question for the DNR, your agent or your own attorney. No letter from anyone is a loan commitment; final approval depends on the property, the appraisal and full underwriting.

Common questions

Does Wisconsin require a well inspection when you buy a home?

No. The Wisconsin DNR does not require a property transfer well inspection, and there is no state requirement to bring a well and pressure system into compliance so a property can be sold. The department's own guidance says many buyers and sellers choose to have an inspection anyway, and that some lending institutions require one. Any decision to correct what an inspection turns up is left to the buyer and the seller to work out between them.

Can a home inspector inspect a private well in Wisconsin?

Not as part of a sale. Since June 1, 2008, anybody paid to inspect a well because a property is being sold has to be a licensed water well driller or a licensed pump installer. The same rule covers anybody paid to make statements about the well at a sale. A home inspector without one of those licenses is not permitted to take it on. Collecting a water sample is treated differently and does not require the license.

What is DNR Form 3300-221?

It is the property transfer well and pressure system inspection form. A licensed water well driller or licensed pump installer completes it after inspecting the well and the pump installation against Wisconsin's well code, and a separate form is completed for each well on the property. The form records whether the system complies, complies except for needing additional research, or does not comply, along with any individual features the inspector flagged. It is given to whoever requested the inspection rather than filed with the department.

Who has to fill and seal an unused well in Wisconsin?

The owner of the property where the well is. Wisconsin's well code requires an unused well to be permanently filled and sealed, and the work has to be performed by a licensed driller or pump installer. That contractor files a filling and sealing report with the DNR within 30 days of finishing. A transfer inspection is required to identify any unused well that needs this done, and also to flag one that was sealed by an unlicensed person after June 1, 2008.

Will a well problem stop a Wisconsin closing?

Not on its own, and it can reach the loan indirectly. Wisconsin does not condition a sale on the well complying with the code, so a finding is normally a negotiation between you and the seller. A lender is separately allowed to require that noncompliance be corrected as part of the financing agreement, and a loan program may carry its own water testing requirements with rules about who is permitted to draw the sample. Telling whoever is working on your loan about the well early is how those conditions surface with time left to handle them.