Well hidden well in crawl space (angry emo)

[Andrew Cooper]

Currently got a property in Snj, and one of my contractors mentioned that there is well in crawl space. He’s was installing water line to kitchen thru the crawl space. And as he was moving thru and installing the pipes, he noticed the well. Not sure how to approach this, I wasn’t aware when I bought this ( bank owned-as is). What options do I have ? Not sure if covering the well with cap will do, it has no pipe going down the well, just a open well. Also fear I may have to open floor up or side of house so it can be capped or drained. Can I leave it as is and disclose it? Not sure how expensive it’ll be in south jersey to close well. Sorry for major ramble, just panicking a bit.

[Kevin Dougherty]

Contact a local well drilling/service company who is licensed in the state, they should have the expertise as to how to handle an abandoned well on the property. It could be as simple as placing a locked cap on the top of the opening. Someone needs to be 100% certain that what the contractor saw is actually an old well site.

You can also speak to the owners of neighboring properties because they probably all had wells serving their homes at one time and may have recommendations for properly closing the well.

Always disclose something like this, you may lose a sale but you will not end up in court because you failed to disclose.