Selling an RV Park in Texas: What Buyers Will Check First

1. Your Septic Permit (OSSF) and the 5,000 Gallons-Per-Day Line

In Texas, a septic system is an "on-site sewage facility," or OSSF. The rules are in Title 30, Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 285, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) runs the program.

What a buyer wants to know:

• Do you have a permit? Under 30 TAC 285.3(a), a person needs a permit and an approved plan to "construct, alter, repair, extend, or operate" an OSSF unless an exception applies.
• Who issued it? TCEQ says it "is not often the OSSF permitting authority." In most places your county, city, or another local "authorized agent" handles it. TCEQ also says local programs "can be more stringent than State minimums." Your local office is the one to call.
• How big is your flow? This is the big one for RV parks. TCEQ's OSSF rules define a "recreational vehicle park" as having "a combined wastewater flow of less than 5,000 gallons per day." Systems that "cumulatively treat and dispose of more than 5,000 gallons of sewage per day on one piece of property" are excluded from the OSSF rules (30 TAC 285.3(g)(1)). Those may need a TCEQ wastewater permit under Chapter 205 or 305 instead, such as a Texas Land Application Permit (TLAP).
• Will the permit transfer? Yes. Under 30 TAC 285.3(a)(3), OSSF permits "shall be transferred to a new owner automatically upon sale or other legal transfer."
• Is it "grandfathered"? Some older systems installed before September 1, 1989 (or before a local program started) don't need a permit, as long as they have not been altered, are not in need of repair, and are not creating a nuisance (30 TAC 285.3(f)(1)). TCEQ adds that the system must not have had a significant increase in use. Confirm that status with your local permitting authority before you count on it.

What to pull now: the permit, the notice of approval (it carries a unique ID number under 30 TAC 285.3(e)), any design or planning paperwork showing permitted flow, and your pump records. If your rented sites have grown past what the permit was written for, find out now, not in week three of a buyer's inspection.

For the full rule-by-rule walk-through, read our septic and water compliance explainer. For what a buyer's septic inspector looks at in the ground, see our septic page.

2. Your Water: Is Your Well a Public Water System?

If you run your own well, a buyer will ask whether it counts as a public water system. Under TCEQ's rules, a public water system is one that has "at least 15 service connections or serve[s] at least 25 individuals at least 60 days out of the year" (30 TAC 290.38). A "transient, noncommunity" system serves at least 25 people at least 60 days a year without serving the same people long-term. The EPA names campgrounds as an example of a transient non-community system.

Many RV parks with their own well will cross that line. If yours does, a buyer will expect to see:

• Your TCEQ water system ID and file
• Recent sample results and any violation or boil-water letters
• Operator information, if your system needs one
• Well, pump, storage, and treatment details

Not sure where you stand? Call TCEQ's drinking water program and ask. Our water systems page has the full checklist.

3. Floodplain

Texas buyers and lenders will look you up on FEMA's flood maps. Know which pads, if any, sit in a mapped flood zone, what flood insurance would cost, and what your flood history really is. You can search your address at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. Disclose known flooding honestly. It costs more when a buyer finds it on their own. See our wild cards page for title, zoning, and flood items.

4. County Rules and Permits

Outside city limits, a number of Texas counties have adopted their own RV park infrastructure rules. Two examples:

• Parker County requires an infrastructure development plan for new RV parks. It treats parks that were operating, or had a septic permit, when the rules were adopted as "grandfathered." But it says a grandfathered park "may not increase their number of spaces beyond the number of spaces that can be serviced by their existing permitted septic system" (Parker County RV park requirements).
• Bastrop County treats lodging and RV park developments as subdivisions under Chapter 232 of the Texas Local Government Code and requires an infrastructure development plan (Bastrop County requirements).

Your county may have different rules or none at all. Call your county development or permits office and ask what is on file for your parcel and what approved site count they show. If you are inside a city, ask the city.

5. The Books Lenders Want

Paperwork wins Texas deals the same way it wins them everywhere else. Have these ready:

• T-12: a trailing twelve-month profit and loss, month by month
• Rent roll by 30A/50A: every site, amp service, rate, transient vs. monthly
• 12 months of utility bills: electric, water, sewer, propane, trash
• Three years of tax returns that tie to your books

If your books show very low expenses because you do the work yourself, expect a lender to rebuild them. Our books, T-12, and rent roll page walks through it.

6. How Texas Deals Get Structured

Way-Ya-Go matches owners to three kinds of offers: Cash, Hybrid Debt-Takeover, or 100% Seller-Financed Installment. Which one fits depends on your price, your taxes, and how long you want to be paid. Talk to your CPA and attorney before you choose. Read seller financing and closing and taxes at sale first.

Wondering how a buyer turns your income into a price? See what is my park worth. Weighing a broker against a cash buyer? See broker vs. cash buyer vs. facilitator.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming an old system is grandfathered without asking your permitting authority.
• Renting more sites than your septic permit supports. Buyers check.
• Treating a private well like it is "just a well." It may be a regulated public water system.
• Skipping the county call. Local rules can limit expansion and site count.
• Going to buyers with shoebox books. They will price the gaps against you.