# Sewer Lateral Repair in New York, NY: Who Pays? | Who Pays the Repair?

> In New York City the owner maintains the house sewer and the curb-to-sewer connection under the street. DEP's duty excludes both (Admin Code 24-522).

**Who pays:** owner

New York City puts the whole connection on the owner, including the curb-to-sewer segment under the street, and carves it out of DEP’s own maintenance duty.

**Boundary:** Owner maintains both the house sewer connection (building to curb) and the curb-to-sewer connection (curb to main). DEP’s street-sewer maintenance duty explicitly excludes both.

**Property owner:** NYC Admin Code 24-512: "The owner... shall pay the cost of each curb-to-sewer connection," and there is a duty "at his or her own cost and expense: (1) to maintain any curb-to-sewer connection... and (2) to repair, reconstruct or replace such curb-to-sewer connection" (except when the city’s own sewer work caused the need).

**City / agency:** DEP maintains "private sewers or drains" in the street but that duty explicitly excludes the curb-to-sewer connection and the house sewer connection (24-522), leaving both to the owner.

**Exceptions:** City bears the cost only when repair is needed because of the city’s own reconstruction of the sewer

## Sources
- [NYC Administrative Code Sec. 24-512 (owner pays/maintains curb-to-sewer connection)](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-44962) — "The owner... shall pay the cost of each curb-to-sewer connection," (accessed 2026-09-27)
- [NYC Administrative Code Sec. 24-522 (DEP duty excludes the connection)](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-216661) (accessed 2026-09-07)
- [NYC Administrative Code § 24-519: Curb-to-sewer connections; owner's duty to repair](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-44962) — "to repair, reconstruct or replace such curb-to-sewer connection except when the necessity for such repair, reconstruction or replacement is caused by the reconstruction or replacement of the sewer or by any other construction work performed by the city." (accessed 2026-09-27)
- [NYC Administrative Code Sec. 24-512 (owner pays/maintains curb-to-sewer connection)](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-44962) — "at his or her own cost and expense: (1) to maintain any curb-to-sewer connection... and (2) to repair, reconstruct or replace such curb-to-sewer connection" (accessed 2026-09-27)

_Last verified 2026-09-07. Source: Who Pays the Repair? — https://whopaystherepair.com/rules/new-york-ny-sewer-lateral/ — every claim checked against a primary source before publication (see /methodology/)._