Who pays for the sewer lateral in Glendale, CA

Who is responsible for which part

The property owner pays to maintain the house connection, and in Glendale that means the run under the road: the code defines a house connection as the part "extending from the sewer main in a public street or right-of-way to private property", and makes the owner responsible for it "including the wye or saddle at the sewer main".

The property owner

The house connection, fitting included. Section 13.40.040 states that "all house connections, including the wye or saddle at the sewer main, shall be maintained at the expense of the property owner", and section 13.40.030 defines a house connection as "that part of any sewer extending from the sewer main in a public street or right-of-way to private property for the exclusive use of such property". So the length beneath the street and the joint where it meets the main are both the owner's to keep up.

What else is worth knowing

Nothing splits the pipe, but two things are worth knowing before you spend. The wye or saddle at the main is named as yours, which is the part most authorities leave unmentioned and the part a contractor is most likely to treat as the City's. And the City's words are about EXPENSE rather than title - it says who pays to maintain the house connection and does not say who owns it - so if a question of ownership ever arises, the code read here does not answer it. Note also that a sewer lateral repair programme paying the first $3,000 belongs to Glendale, Missouri, and not to this city; nothing read here offers Glendale, California residents anything equivalent.

Checked 2026-09-14

What is required

• When you askPermit

  Glendale requires a permit before connecting private property to a public sewer: "no person shall connect any private property with any public sewer system in or belonging to the city ... without first procuring a permit to make such connection", with the systems of Los Angeles and Burbank excepted. Application and fees go to the director of public works. The connection fee depends on whether the property has already borne the cost of the main and on when the main was laid: where it "was in place on or before January 1, 1942", the fee is fifty dollars for 5,000 square feet or less plus fifty cents per hundred square feet above that; where it was not, the fee is "the portion of the total cost of such public sewer main ... determined according to the ratio of the area of the private property ... to the entire area".

  What to do: Before budgeting anything, ask the director of public works two things about your address: whether the property has ever been assessed for the public sewer main it would connect to, and when that main was placed. The answers decide whether you are looking at an excavation fee and fifty dollars or at a share of the main's construction cost. If your property would connect to a Los Angeles or Burbank system rather than Glendale's, say so - the permit section excepts those.

  Why this matters▸▾

  Two questions decide the bill and neither is about your house. The first is who paid for the sewer main in the street - where it was built by private contract at no expense to the city, the permit issues on the excavation fee alone, though a sewer facilities charge may still apply. The second is when that main was laid. Before 1 January 1942 and the fee is fifty dollars and small change; after it, the fee is a proportionate share of what the whole main cost to build, apportioned by area. Those are not the same order of magnitude, and a homeowner has no way of knowing which applies without asking. The City holds both answers.

  In force since 2026-09-14 · Checked 2026-09-14

  City of Glendale Municipal Code, Title 13 chapter 13.40, Sewer System, Article II

Who governs and serves this area

Jurisdiction

Glendale (municipality)

Sewer service

Not mapped. No sewer service territory covering this area has been added, so BelowGrid cannot say who serves an individual address here.