Permitting & Regulations
Who issues your permit, what the 10-acre rule really does, repair versus alteration, and what happens at final inspection.
State rules are the floor. Figures here are TCEQ minimums under 30 TAC Chapter 285. Your county can be stricter and around here most are — check your county before you rely on a number.
- Do I need a permit to install a septic system in a Texas county, and who issues it?
- How do I identify my permitting authority — TCEQ regional office, county, river authority, or city (the Authorized Agent system)?
- Do I need a permit to REPAIR an existing system, and what counts as repair vs alteration vs extension?
- What is an Authorization to Construct, and what happens at final inspection / license to operate?
- OSSF permit and site-evaluation fees and typical review timelines.
- Buying property with an unpermitted or undocumented septic system — exposure and how to fix it.Verify before relying on the figures
- Aerobic maintenance contracts — who must hold one, for how long, and can homeowners self-maintain after two years?
- TCEQ OSSF license types and what each can do.
8 questions. Reviewed August 2026.