A septic inspector lifts the tank lids on a Cherry Hills Village lot, pumps the tank and fills out a county form. Most sellers treat the result as a single checkpoint. The county issues a permit, the title company collects it, and the sale closes. Inside the Cherry Hills Village Sanitation District, though, that same report also gets read under a second set of rules. Under those rules, a pump, a float or a new set of tees counts as a routine repair. Anything past that list means the system has failed, and within 60 days the owner has to buy a sewer tap permit and arrange to connect to the public sewer, at their own expense.
These homes are not common. In a January 28, 2026 letter included in the city council's May 19, 2026 packet, the city's engineering consultant, ICON Engineering, described the number of "well-septic" properties in Cherry Hills Village as "small and not increasing." Because there are so few, a seller here may never have watched a county permit and a district rulebook land on the same closing.
The County Permit Comes First, and It Has a Fix-It Clause
Arapahoe County Public Health requires a septic inspection and a Use Permit when a home with a septic system is sold. The county's Septic System Transfer of Title Process handout lays out the steps:
- Hire a septic inspector.
- Submit a "Transfer of Title/Use" permit application at myhealthdepartment.com/acph. Include the inspector's form, the pumping receipt for the tank and an up-to-date record drawing of the system.
- Pay the fee. The county's posted On-Site Waste Water Use Permit Application Fee is $85. The inspector's charge is separate.
- Allow about two business days for processing once the application is complete and paid.
- Provide the permit at closing. It is good for one year from the issue date.
The county's current OWTS regulation, adopted March 18, 2026 and in effect since May 7, 2026, adds the part that matters most here. Items in the inspection report that don't meet the county's criteria "must be corrected along with necessary permits and inspections prior to the issuance of a Use Permit." The first criterion listed is a structurally sound, watertight septic tank in good working order with safe and secure lids. Any malfunctioning component has to be noted and disclosed in the report.
So the county will not issue the permit until the problems are fixed. What counts as a fix, though, depends on which district serves the property.
The District Decides What a Fix Can Be
Cherry Hills Village Sanitation District's Rules and Regulations define a failed system as one that is "overflowing, full or not functioning properly" and needs work beyond a short list of routine repairs. Rule 2.01 says these repairs do not count as failure:
- Replacing inlet and outlet tees on septic tanks
- Adding risers to grade, replacing damaged risers, and replacing manhole and riser lids
- Replacing pumps and floats
- Replacing or redoing electrical work
- Replacing damaged or broken sections of sewer pipe, adding or replacing cleanouts or valve boxes, and replacing damaged valves
When the work needed goes past that list, the system counts as failed. The existing system has to be abandoned, and within 60 days the owner has to buy a sewer tap permit and arrange a timely connection to district facilities at the owner's expense.
The district's April 2026 permitting summary is blunter. It says "Septic tank repairs are not permitted except in limited cases" and asks owners to call the district for details.
Read together, the two rulebooks split inspection findings into two groups. A defect that one of the listed repairs can fix, such as a worn pump or a damaged lid, gets corrected and the county permit moves forward. A defect that needs more than the listed repairs, such as a tank that is no longer sound or a system that has stopped working, meets the district's definition of failure. In that case, the correction the county requires before issuing the permit runs through the district's sewer connection process.
The district has a second trigger that doesn't depend on any failure. Under Rule 2.02, it may require any occupied structure within 400 feet of a public sewer line to connect, at the owner's expense, within 90 days of notice. Residential owners can apply for a hardship exemption, which lasts only as long as the hardship does.
The Fee Stack Before Anyone Digs a Trench
A sewer connection out of CHVSD involves two agencies. The district charges its own tap fee, and its summary states that tap fees to the City of Englewood are also required. Properties in Buell Mansion and Covington pay Hillcrest Water and Sanitation District fees instead of Englewood's.
Both fees scale with the size of the home's water service:
| Water service size | CHVSD tap fee | Englewood 2026 sewer treatment connection fee | Englewood collection surcharge | Combined agency fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/4 inch | $12,000 | $2,335 | $476 | $14,811 |
| 1 inch | $20,040 | $3,895 | $793 | $24,728 |
| 1 1/2 inch | $39,960 | $7,767 | $1,582 | $49,309 |
| 2 inch | $63,960 | $12,480 | $2,542 | $78,982 |
Those figures come from the district's posted tap fee schedule and Englewood's 2026 Sewer Connection Fees (Inside & Outside City). Neither one includes the contractor. The district's rules make the property owner responsible for installing the service line and making the connection. The district also bars ABS and clay pipe, and it requires new service line pipe from the property line to the house unless it consents otherwise in writing. Every new tap connection must be inspected by both CHVSD and the City of Englewood. Buell Mansion and Covington properties don't need the Englewood inspection.
On larger estate lots, the water service is often bigger than the base 3/4-inch line, and the agency fees grow quickly with it, as the table shows.
Which District Serves the Parcel Is the First Question
All of this applies to CHVSD territory, and Cherry Hills Village is not a single sewer district. The city's water and sewer district list names these sewer providers inside the city:
- Cherry Hills Village Sanitation District
- Cherryvale Sanitation District
- South Englewood Sanitation District #1
- Hillcrest Water and Sanitation District
- Devonshire Heights Water and Sanitation District
- Mansfield Heights Water and Sanitation District
- Southgate Water and Sanitation District
The same list notes that Cherry Hills Farm Metro District gets its sewer service through CHVSD. Each district has its own rules. The 60-day and 400-foot provisions above are CHVSD's. A seller in another district has to look up that district's rules for the same answers, and the county permit process applies everywhere.
How the Timing Plays Out Around a Listing
The county's permit lasts one year, and processing takes about two business days once an application is complete. That puts the inspection on the seller's timeline instead of in the middle of a buyer's due diligence window. If the listing runs past a year, the permit expires and the seller has to start over.
The obligation doesn't disappear if the seller skips it. The 2026 regulation says that if the owner doesn't get a Use Permit before a covered sale, the purchaser has to get one. For a buyer in CHVSD territory, that means inheriting the inspection along with any district-required sewer connection that follows from it.
The inspector requirement has a wrinkle. The county handout tells sellers to find an inspector through NAWT.org. The 2026 regulation asks for the inspector's "NAWT or other applicable certification number" and says the inspection report must be completed by a "Department-approved Use Permit Inspector" within the previous 12 months. Before booking, it makes sense to confirm with Arapahoe County Public Health that the inspector meets the current approval standard.
The county's OWTS updates page explains that the new regulation brings local rules in line with the 2025 revisions to Colorado's Regulation 43. It keeps the Transfer-of-Title inspection program and adds new local provisions on effluent filters, setback adjustments and bedroom-count clarification. If a seller's last inspection was done under the old rules, it was done under a different rulebook than the one that applies to a sale closing this fall.
This post is general information about published county and district rules. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm how these rules apply to your property with Arapahoe County Public Health, your sanitation district and your own attorney or other qualified professional.
Quick Answers
Which transfers are exempt from the county Use Permit? The 2026 regulation exempts several kinds of transfers. They include adding or removing a spouse or child, transfers into the owner's own trust, transfers subject to a life estate and new homes that haven't been occupied yet. A foreclosure transfer is exempt, but the foreclosing entity's later sale is not.
Does selling count as a remodel trigger too? Sale is one of several triggers for a Use Permit. A remodel that adds one or more bedrooms is another, so an addition planned before listing can bring the same inspection forward.
Where do I find the county's official process? Arapahoe County Public Health keeps it at arapahoeco.gov/septic, and applications go through myhealthdepartment.com/acph.
If you own a Cherry Hills Village home on septic and plan to sell in the next year, start by finding out which district serves your parcel and when the system was last inspected. Chriss Bond can line up the county permit, the inspection and the district's requirements with your listing timeline, and connect you with the vendors who handle this work. Contact Me to set up that conversation.
