Apartment and Rental Sewer Line Replacement by Property Type
MAWSS's defect program names three kinds of lateral owner: a resident owner, a landlord who is a MAWSS customer somewhere else in its area, and a landlord who isn't. The third group includes management companies, LLCs and partnerships. Each gets a different penalty path, so it helps to know which one you are before the letter arrives. The 180-day deadline itself is explained on the sewer line repair page.
Single-Family Rental Houses
MAWSS writes to both the owner and the tenant, and its policy makes the tenant contact the owner because owners can be hard to find. If you're a MAWSS customer at your own address, penalties for the rental go on that private account; leave them unpaid and MAWSS can cut water and sewer at your home. If the tenant moves out while the lateral is still defective, service to the rental stays off until the penalties and fees are paid and the repair is done. MAWSS's lateral financing isn't open to landlords.
Duplexes and Fourplexes on One Lateral
When two to four units sit on one building sewer, one replacement serves every unit and one blockage backs up all of them. MAWSS bills the owner or manager for tenants who don't pay when several dwellings share one lateral and each tenant pays their own bill, so a shared line ties the units together financially as well. Ask the plumber to schedule the cut-over so every unit goes without water use for the same short window, rather than each in turn.
Apartment Complexes With Private Mains and Manholes
Where a complex has its own collection pipe running across the property to MAWSS's main, that pipe is the owner's to maintain. Once that pipe is 8 inches or larger, the 2021 code calls for manholes, the first within 200 feet of the building and then every 400 feet, instead of cleanouts. A camera survey of a complex therefore runs manhole to manhole, and the quote should say which runs are being replaced and which only filmed.
Units Managed by an Out-of-Town Owner or Company
For landlords who aren't MAWSS customers, MAWSS opens a billable account in the owner's or management company's name. After six unpaid billings the account goes to a collection agency. Name a local contact who can approve the plumber's quote, so the clock isn't spent waiting on a signature.
Why Mobile homeowners, landlords and businesses call Mobile Sewer Line Replacement
- One licensed plumber gets the request, not a bidding list
- No charge to you for the introduction
- Ask to keep the camera video from before and after
- Alabama plumbing licenses can be checked online
Tenant Notice and Entry for a Sewer Dig
Alabama's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act says a tenant can't unreasonably refuse entry for necessary repairs. Outside an emergency, the landlord enters at reasonable times, and a posted note on the main door counts as notice. A general notice or advance schedule for repairs, given separately from the lease more than two days ahead, covers the visit without a second notice.
For a sewer job that means:
- send the notice with the dig days and the hours the drains must stay unused;
- ask the plumber for a firm cut-over window so you can give tenants a time, not a day;
- keep the camera video, itemized invoice, permit and city inspection sticker on file, since MAWSS asks for proof of the repair and a later buyer may too.
Rental Laterals and Proof for MAWSS
MAWSS may re-test a repaired lateral at any time. If it decides the repair wasn't made as the owner said, the remaining days on the 180-day clock resume from its new notice, or its monthly stormwater inflow charge starts if the deadline has passed; for a rental that charge is $90 a month in the 2025 fee schedule against $30 for a non-rental home. A full replacement with a camera inspection on record after the work gives you something to show MAWSS if it re-tests.