Buying A Connecticut Home With A Private Well? PFAS And The October 1 Rule Changes

A buyer sees “private well” on the disclosure form for a house outside New Haven. The seller has a water test from two years ago. The buyer's first question should be simple: what did that test actually measure?

Two Connecticut law changes take effect October 1, 2026. One changes who may receive a past well-test result from health officials and removes an approval step for sharing it. The other changes which water-quality levels require an owner to notify tenants. Neither tells you what the seller's old test measured.

They also do not require every existing well to be tested for PFAS. A routine well test may not include PFAS at all, so the answer usually starts with the lab pages and ends with your contract deadline.

Read The Actual Lab Report

Start with the Connecticut residential property condition report. It asks the seller whether the home has a private well, whether its water was tested for contaminants or volatile organic compounds, and whether the seller knows of problems with the well or the water. If a test was done, the form calls for the report or, if no report is available, the name of whoever performed the test and a description of the results. For covered sales, C.G.S. § 20-327b generally requires the condition report before the buyer signs a binder or purchase contract.

Then read the lab pages. PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of human-made chemicals that can contaminate drinking water. A report that lists bacteria, nitrate and arsenic tells you nothing about PFAS unless the lab tested for them too. A PFAS test checks for specific chemicals in that group, so even a PFAS report covers only the chemicals tested in a sample taken on a particular date. Ask whether the well was treated or retested after that date.

C.G.S. § 19a-37(d) separately requires an owner to tell a buyer or tenant that state educational material on private-well testing is available. A buyer's or tenant's real estate licensee generally provides the material when one has been hired; otherwise the owner, landlord or closing attorney does. Do not mistake that handout for actual test results.

Decide What Testing The Deal Needs

Connecticut's Department of Public Health (DPH) recommends testing a private well when buying a home. The state's private-well PFAS guidance, from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), is more targeted. It does not generally recommend PFAS testing for every private well, but says owners may wish to test if the well is near a suspected PFAS source or they know of PFAS contamination in an adjacent property's drinking water.

Before the inspection deadline, find out what tests already exist, what the local health department knows about the area, and which additional tests make sense for this well. If PFAS testing is warranted, use a lab certified for that analysis and follow its sampling instructions. Make sure the report lists each compound tested, its concentration, the detection limit and the sample date.

If a result exceeds a DPH Action Level or a maximum contaminant level, DPH advises confirming it with another test, not drinking the water until the issue is resolved, and contacting the local health department or DPH about treatment and next steps. For PFAS above an Action Level, DEEP also recommends bottled water for drinking and cooking until treatment is in place and asks owners to email the results to DEEP and DPH.

What Changes For Access To Past Results?

Some of those existing tests may already be on file with health officials. When a lab tests a residential private well, existing law generally requires it to report the result to the local health authority and DPH within 30 days. Those results are kept confidential, but a buyer who has signed a purchase contract is among the people they may be shared with.

Until October 1, the local health authority or DPH may disclose a reported result to the well property's owner or a prospective buyer who has signed a purchase contract, but first needs the public health commissioner's approval. Beginning October 1, Public Act 26-13, § 31 removes that approval step. It also allows disclosure to owners of other properties served by the well and to owners of properties adjacent to the well property or another property the well serves. A buyer under contract remains eligible. The law permits disclosure; it does not require an agency to send you a result on its own.

If you are buying, ask the seller for every available report before signing. If you still have questions after signing a contract, ask the local health department whether it has a result it can share.

What Changes For A Landlord's Notice?

A separate law covers tenants who are already using a property's water. It matters to you as a buyer if the home has a rental unit or you plan to rent part of it. When testing shows an applicable contaminant level has been exceeded, C.G.S. § 19a-37k requires a residential or commercial property owner to forward a copy of the results notice to each tenant and lessee as soon as practicable, and no later than 48 hours after receiving it. The local health director must take reasonable steps to verify that the owner forwarded the notice.

Public Act 26-142, § 6 changes which levels trigger this duty on October 1. Instead of the state's drinking-water action-level list, the trigger becomes levels for PFAS and unregulated contaminants on a schedule DPH must issue under § 21a-150b. Section 3 of the same act creates that duty, also effective October 1. Exceeding a maximum contaminant level in the state's water-supply regulations still triggers notice too. Landlords should confirm with DPH or the local health department which levels apply.

The 48-hour duty concerns tenants and lessees, not a prospective homebuyer. It turns on a level being exceeded, not merely on a lab detecting a trace amount of PFAS.

Put The Answer In The Contract

While the condition report asks the right questions, Connecticut's disclosure law does not require a seller to test the well to answer them. Under C.G.S. §§ 20-327d and 20-327e, the seller's answers extend only to what the seller actually knows. A seller who never tested and knows of no water problems may honestly say so. If you want to know what is in the water, the contract is where you make room to find out.

The dates matter as much as the reports. DEEP says labs typically report PFAS results within two to three weeks after receiving the sample, though times vary, so ask the lab before you agree to an inspection deadline. You can ask for a well-water contingency with its own deadline, separate from the general home inspection. The contract can also say which tests will be run, which certified lab will run them and who will take the sample.

Decide before you sign what happens if a result comes back high. Depending on the contract, a buyer may be able to cancel and recover the deposit, ask the seller to install treatment before closing, negotiate a credit or lower price, or hold money in escrow at closing to pay for treatment. DEEP identifies point-of-entry carbon filtration and point-of-use reverse osmosis as the main treatment options for PFAS in well water, and says they work only when properly sized and maintained. Whoever owns the house after closing will own that maintenance and the follow-up testing.

A seller should answer the disclosure form's water questions to the best of their knowledge, including problems that were never put in a report, attach the reports the form calls for, and see that the buyer gets the required well-testing notice and educational material.

If a well-water issue is holding up a Greater New Haven purchase or sale, our real estate attorneys can review the disclosure, reports and contract dates with you. Contact LoRicco Law before the inspection period or closing date runs out.

This article provides general information, not legal advice for a particular case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.