Well disclosure certificate
A well disclosure certificate tells a buyer, and the state, about every known well on a Minnesota property being sold. It is required under Minn. Stat. 103I.235, part of the Ground Water Protection Act.
The purpose is not primarily consumer protection. It is groundwater protection — an unsealed well is a direct conduit from the surface into an aquifer, and the state wants to know where they are.
When it is required#
Before signing an agreement to sell or transfer real property. Not before closing.
It applies to contract for deed transfers as well as conventional sales, which catches a great many sellers who assume a contract for deed sits outside the ordinary conveyancing requirements.
And it cannot be waived by the buyer. Unlike the general seller's disclosure under Minn. Stat. 513.55, this obligation persists regardless of what the parties agree.
What goes on it#
Three things.
The legal description and county.
A map showing the location of each well on the property.
The status of each well — in use, not in use, or sealed. A well counts as in use if it is functioning for some purpose, which is broader than most people assume.
Which wells count#
All of them. Drinking water, irrigation, livestock, commercial and industrial process, heating and cooling, and monitoring wells. Drive-point and sand-point wells, drilled wells and dug wells.
The ones that cause trouble are the forgotten ones. A capped pipe in a corner of a field, a hand pump behind a barn, a well abandoned when the property connected to a municipal system decades ago. These are wells, they require disclosure, and an unsealed one is a liability rather than a curiosity.
The six-year exposure#
A seller who knew or had reason to know of the existence or status of a well and failed to disclose it is liable to the buyer for the cost of sealing it plus reasonable attorney fees.
The buyer has six years from the purchase to bring that action.
Sealing is not a small job. It must be done by a licensed well contractor, and the process involves removing the pump and internal piping, running a grout pipe to the bottom, and filling the entire well with approved sealing material. On a deep well the cost is substantial.
That combination — a real cost, a six-year window, and liability attaching to what the seller "had reason to know" — makes this one of the more serious Minnesota disclosure obligations, and one of the least understood.
The Washington County addition#
Minn. Stat. 103I.236 adds a requirement for property in Washington County not served by a municipal water system: the seller must state whether the property sits within a designated special well construction area.
Where the 103I.235 disclosure states there is an unsealed well, the Washington County disclosure applies whether or not the property is on municipal water.