N.Y. General Business Law § 396-s: Individual sewage disposal system; information to vendees of newly constructed homes

§ 396-s. Individual sewage disposal system; information to vendees of

newly constructed homes. 1. When used in this section, the following

terms, unless the context requires otherwise, shall have the following

meanings:

(a) "Vendee" means any individual or individuals who have contracted

with a vendor for construction of a home on land not owned at the time

of such agreement by such individual or individuals.

(b) "Vendor" means any person, firm, corporation, or association

engaged in the business of constructing new homes. A banking

organization, as that term is defined in the banking law, shall be a

vendor within the meaning of this section if such organization sells a

newly constructed home to a vendee.

(c) "Department" means the state department of health.

(d) "Individual sewage disposal system" means a facility serving one

or more parcels of land and disposing of sewage or other liquid wastes

into the soil of such parcels, except where a permit for such a facility

is required under the applicable provisions of article seventeen of the

environmental conservation law.

(e) "Health pamphlet" means the pamphlet known as the New York state

health department waste treatment pamphlet entitled, "Septic System

Operation and Maintenance".

2. On and after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-one every vendor

shall, either in person or by certified mail, deliver to a vendee at the

time of the transfer of title of the home serviced by an individual

sewage disposal system a copy of the health pamphlet. If the political

subdivision within which the home is located has published a waste

treatment handbook or pamphlet on individual sewage disposal systems,

the vendor shall supply a copy of such informational material to the

vendee in the same manner as the health pamphlet.

3. The commissioner of the department of health is hereby directed to

modify the contents of the health pamphlet in such a manner that such

pamphlet shall contain information relating to the proper method of

operating and maintaining individual sewage disposal systems. Such

information shall be in clear and concise language readily

comprehensible by vendees and shall identify potential problems that

vendees may encounter with individual sewage disposal systems. The

modification to the health pamphlet required by this subdivision shall

be made on or before the effective date of this section and shall be

included within any health pamphlet to be distributed by the department

on and after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-one.

4. The department may establish a method of distributing the pamphlets

so that there is no fiscal impact upon the department.

5. Any vendor violating this section shall be assessed a civil penalty

not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars.