What Slows Down a Closing in Buckingham Township Isn't the Septic Tank
August 27, 2026
August 27, 2026
Ask anyone who has bought a home on well and septic in Buckingham Township what worried them most before closing, and the answer is almost always the same: the septic inspection. Buyers circle the date on the calendar, brace for a bad drainfield report, and treat the well flow test like the real obstacle standing between them and the keys.
That instinct makes sense. It is also aimed at the wrong target.
Septic and well systems in Buckingham move through processes that are more standardized and better documented than most buyers expect. The part of a Buckingham transaction that actually catches people off guard, sometimes after they've already signed, sits somewhere else entirely: whether the land is enrolled in an Agricultural Security Area, or restricted by a recorded conservation easement. Those two things sound like the same kind of rural red tape. They are not. One is a designation an owner can walk away from with no penalty. The other is permanent, travels with the deed forever, and can quietly rule out the pool, the barn, or the second driveway a buyer was planning to build.
Pennsylvania has no statewide requirement for a septic inspection at the point of sale. Whether one is required at all depends on the municipality, which is why septic rules can look completely different three towns apart. Buckingham sits inside a rarer setup: Bucks County is one of only four Pennsylvania counties where the county health department, not the township, administers septic permitting directly under one consistent set of standards. That means the technical rules governing tank design, drainfield sizing, and soil testing apply the same way across the county rather than getting reinterpreted by forty different township ordinances.
That doesn't erase the homework. A buyer or seller still needs to confirm with Buckingham Township whether a point-of-sale inspection is actually triggered before closing, since Pennsylvania leaves that decision to the municipality even where the underlying permitting sits with the county. What it does mean is that once an inspection happens, the process and the standards behind it are consistent, not a local guessing game. In 2026, a full septic inspection required for a real estate transaction in Pennsylvania typically runs $400 to $800, and that figure usually includes pumping the tank as part of the evaluation. If a system needs pumping on its own outside of a sale, Penn State Extension notes that a real estate septic inspection goes well beyond a routine pump-out, evaluating the tank, distribution pipes, and drainfield as a complete system rather than checking one component in isolation.
Buckingham shares its groundwater geology with Solebury, Upper Makefield, Plumstead, and Wrightstown, all sitting on bedrock formed by the Triassic-Jurassic Newark Basin. A U.S. Geological Survey study of more than 1,300 wells across these townships found real variation in pH, metals, radon, and volatile organic compounds depending on which rock formation a given well taps into, sometimes between wells only a few hundred yards apart. A clean result from the house next door tells a buyer nothing reliable about the well on the property they're actually considering.
That geology is also why a well needs two separate checks, not one. A flow test answers a quantity question: can the well supply the house at the pressure it needs. Local inspectors commonly look for at least 3 gallons per minute at 30 psi as a baseline. A water quality test answers a safety question entirely: bacteria, nitrate, pH, and metals. Bucks County has run a Residential Well Inspection Program since 2007, but that program governs how a well was constructed, altered, or sealed. It says nothing about whether today's water is safe to drink, and the state does not test private wells on an owner's behalf. That responsibility sits with whoever owns the property, which after closing means the buyer. Given how much of Buckingham remains in active farmland, a water panel that includes nitrate is worth requesting alongside the standard bacteria test, since nitrate typically enters groundwater through fertilizer and older septic leach fields, both common near working farms.
None of that, though, is what actually determines what a buyer can do with the property once they own it.
A septic report and a well test describe the condition of a house. An Agricultural Security Area or a conservation easement describes what the land is legally allowed to become.
An Agricultural Security Area sounds like a permanent restriction. It isn't one. Enrollment gives a landowner two specific protections: township supervisors agree not to pass nuisance ordinances that would restrict normal farming operations, and government condemnation of the land requires extra approval from a state review board before it can proceed. That's the entire effect. ASA status does not stop an owner from selling, subdividing, or developing under the township's normal zoning rules. There's no financial penalty for removing land from an ASA the way there is under Pennsylvania's Clean and Green tax program. The one real constraint is time: an owner has to maintain ASA status for at least seven years after the initial application before requesting removal.
A conservation easement is a different instrument altogether, and it's where the actual restriction lives. To sell an easement, a landowner applies to Buckingham's Agricultural and Open Space Preservation Committee, which visits the property and weighs its farmland productivity alongside historic, scenic, and natural features before forwarding a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. A state-certified appraiser then sets the easement's value, and neither the county nor the township is permitted to pay more than that appraised figure, though private organizations can add funds on top of it. Once an easement is purchased or donated, it's recorded and permanent. The land is legally limited to agricultural and open space use from that point forward, regardless of who buys it next.
This machinery is active, not theoretical. Bucks County's Agricultural Land Preservation Program has operated since 1989, and the first two farms protected under it, in 1991, belonged to Buckingham farmers Leonard Crooke and Charles and Wilmer Frederick. More recently, the directors of the Buckingham Concours d'Elegance car show contributed $100,000 through their own Land Preservation Fund to help preserve a 60-acre farm with frontage on Neshaminy Creek, money added on top of what the county and township programs offered. Buckingham also runs a Transfer of Development Rights program: owners of 25 acres or more can permanently preserve their land by selling the development rights to someone building elsewhere in the township at higher density, an option worth knowing about for anyone eyeing a large parcel that isn't currently restricted.
The practical problem is that a title search alone won't reliably tell a buyer which of these, if either, applies to a specific parcel, or explain the difference between the two if it does. A few habits close that gap:
Does every home in Buckingham rely on well and septic? No. Newer development closer to established public water and sewer lines skips this list entirely. Older farmhouses and large-lot parcels, which make up a meaningful share of the township given its preservation history, are far more likely to have both.
Can land under an easement or in an ASA still be sold? Yes. Both statuses run with the land through any future sale. A buyer inherits whatever protections or restrictions are already in place, which is exactly why confirming the details before closing matters more than confirming them after.
Will a conservation easement show up automatically in title work? It should, since easements are recorded documents. But title reports are built to flag liens and mortgages first, and land-use restrictions can get less attention in a routine review. Asking the seller and the township directly, rather than relying on the title report alone, is the more reliable path.
Buckingham's mix of working farms, preserved acreage, and private wells is part of what makes the township feel the way it does. It also means the real due diligence here looks different from a subdivision on public water and sewer. Getting the septic and well questions answered is straightforward once you know who to call. Getting the land-use questions answered takes someone who already knows which office to call first.
If you're weighing a purchase or a sale on a well-and-septic property in Buckingham Township, or trying to figure out whether a parcel you're considering carries an easement or an ASA designation, Beth Scarpello can help you get clear answers before you're locked into a contract. Let's Connect.
With a results-driven mindset and personalized service, Beth ensures every client receives expert guidance and a seamless experience.