Washington requires an inspection when a property on septic changes hands. In Des Moines that means a property transfer inspection, filed with Public Health, Seattle & King County. It is waived if one was already carried out in the previous twelve months and the property has not changed hands since, so an inspection you had for maintenance reasons can sometimes count.
We are a certified operation-and-maintenance firm in both King and Pierce County, so an inspection we carry out in Des Moines is one that can be filed. If it finds a problem, the technician who found it will set out your options and what each one costs before you decide anything, which is the part that matters when there is a closing date attached.
What the records show in Des Moines
Sale inspections are filed with the county health department, so the record for Des Moines is close to a complete count rather than a sample. Between 2015 and 2025, 395 sale inspections were filed here and 33.2% of them found a problem. Across King County, 24.5% of sale inspections filed between 2015 and 2025 found a problem. That puts Des Moines higher than the county as a whole.
| Sale inspections in Des Moines, 2015 to 2025 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Sale inspections filed | 395 |
| Found a problem | 33.2% |
| Could not be completed | 12.2% |
Getting the most out of the inspection
The second figure is about access rather than condition. 12.2% of sale inspections in Des Moines could not be completed, because a lid, a tank or part of the drainfield could not be reached and had to be recorded as not evaluated. That is low by regional standards, but it is still worth avoiding: across both counties, inspections that cannot see everything fail more than twice as often as ones that can.
Having the lids located and exposed before the inspector arrives is the simplest way to make sure the report reflects your whole system.
When to book, and why it matters
The single most useful thing a seller can do is book early. Of sale inspections that failed across the two counties, about a third were resolved within 30 days and the median took around eight weeks, which is longer than most closing windows. A problem found before you list is a repair. The same problem found once you are under contract is a negotiation, and sometimes a collapsed sale.
Call (253) 364-7416 to book a sale inspection in Des Moines, or to ask which report your address needs.
More on selling a property on septic
The full regional picture, including how long a failed inspection holds up a sale and which towns fare worst, is on our property sale and transfer inspections page. For everything else we do in Des Moines, see our Des Moines page.
