Outside Kentville: a drilled well, septic and an oil tank

Illustrative example

The situation

Location

Kings County, west of Kentville

Borrower

A couple moving from a Kentville apartment, both salaried, one at the hospital

Income

$105,000 household, two T4s

Credit

Both mid-700s; a $290 car payment

Purchase price

$385,000

Down payment

$38,500

Mortgage

$357,242

Payment at 4.45%

$1,967 a month

The challenge

A three-bedroom house on two acres off Highway 1 west of Kentville, with a drilled well, a septic field installed in the 1990s, and an oil furnace with a tank in the basement. The buyers had a five-business-day financing condition in the draft offer, which was not enough time for a water sample to come back from the lab.

What the lender looked at

• Potability: a bacteria result from an accredited lab showing no E. coli or total coliforms, dated within the lender’s window. Nova Scotia names arsenic and uranium, which Nova Scotia names as prevalent in the province and a health risk; neither shows on a bacteria test, so the full panel was ordered too.
• Septic: an inspection by a licensed installer or inspector, with a tank pump-out and a look at the field, since the appraiser notes the system but does not test it.
• The oil tank: the province sets no age limit and insurers do not publish theirs, so no number applies. The metal tag or label on the tank carries the manufacturing standard and the year of manufacture — it should never be painted over, and the insurer decides. No binder naming the lender as mortgagee, no advance.
• Two acres: some lenders reduce loan-to-value on large acreage; at 90% on an insured file, the appraisal had to support the full $385,000 on the house and the first acre or two.
• Qualified at 6.45%: $2,382 a month, 33% gross debt service on $105,000 with property tax and heat.

What was done

The offer was rewritten with a 10-business-day financing condition and a separate condition for the water, septic and insurance. Samples went to the lab the day the offer was accepted, the septic inspector came the same week, and the insurer was given the tank’s tag before the binder was requested. Everything was in the lender’s hands with two days to spare.

The outcome

Illustrative outcome: a $357,242 insured mortgage over 25 years at 4.45% (chartered-bank prime rate, Bank of Canada, 2026-09-16) is about $1,967 a month, qualified at $2,382. Cash on closing: $44,275 for the down payment and Kings County deed transfer tax, plus legal fees and the lab and inspection invoices, which the buyers paid directly.