If you're selling a house in Delaware County, there's a good chance your municipality wants to inspect it before the deed changes hands. That inspection, and the certificate that comes out of it, is usually called a Use and Occupancy certificate, or U&O. It catches a lot of sellers off guard because it has nothing to do with the buyer's home inspection, and it runs on the municipality's schedule, not yours.
What a resale U&O actually is
A resale U&O is a local requirement. There's no statewide rule that every Pennsylvania municipality has to inspect homes at sale, so each borough, township, and city decides for itself through its own ordinance. Many in Delaware County do require one. Some don't. A few require it only for certain property types, such as rentals or multi-unit buildings. The only way to know for sure is to ask your municipality's code enforcement office.
Don't confuse it with the certificate of occupancy issued at the end of new construction or a major renovation. That one confirms permitted work was finished to code. The resale U&O is a point-of-sale check on an existing house, and it can flag problems that have been there for decades.
Your mailing address may not tell you who to call
This trips people up more than you'd expect. Delaware County mailing addresses follow post office boundaries, not municipal ones. A Media, PA address could be Media Borough, but it could just as easily be Middletown or Upper Providence Township, among others. A Thornton, PA address falls under Thornbury Township for U&O purposes. Before you fill out any application, confirm which municipality actually governs the property. Your tax bill or deed will tell you, and the directory lists who to contact once you know.
What inspectors usually look at
Every municipality sets its own checklist, but resale inspections in this area tend to focus on life safety and the outside of the property. Expect them to check for working smoke alarms on every level and carbon monoxide alarms where there's fuel-burning equipment or an attached garage. They'll look at handrails on stairs, GFCI protection near water, and a discharge pipe on the water heater's relief valve. Visible house numbers come up constantly, and so do cracked or heaved sidewalks and curbs, which in many towns are the owner's responsibility.
Some municipalities go further. A sewer lateral inspection or dye test, a check that sump pumps and downspouts aren't tied into the sanitary sewer, or a review of permit history for finished basements and additions are all fair game depending on the ordinance. If the house has a basement apartment or was converted to more units than it's zoned for, expect that to surface here too.
What happens when the inspection finds problems
Pennsylvania's Municipal Code and Ordinance Compliance Act, as amended by Act 133 of 2016, limits what a municipality can do with a failed resale inspection. It can't block the sale or force repairs before closing, and it can't require an escrow or bond as a condition of the certificate. Instead, the outcome depends on how serious the problems are:
If the inspection finds ordinary code violations, the buyer can get a temporary U&O and move in, with 12 months after the purchase to make the repairs. If it finds substantial violations, meaning problems serious enough to make the house unfit to live in, the buyer gets a temporary access certificate instead. That allows repair work and moving belongings in, but not living there, until the serious items are fixed. Either way, the municipality reinspects, and a full certificate issues once everything is corrected. Repairs left undone past the deadline can lead to fines and the temporary certificate being pulled.
That law gives the sale a path forward, but it doesn't decide who pays for the repairs. That's a negotiation between buyer and seller, and it's worth having early. Some buyers' lenders also want to know how open U&O items will be handled before they'll fund the loan, so a seller who waits until the week of closing to deal with this is taking an unnecessary risk.
Timing and practical steps
Apply as soon as the house is going on the market, not after it's under contract. Inspection calendars in some offices book out by weeks, especially in spring. Fees vary by municipality and property type, and many certificates are only valid for a set period, so ask how long yours will last if the sale drags out.
If you know about small items, such as a missing smoke alarm, a loose railing, or faded house numbers, fixing them before the inspector shows up is cheap and saves a reinspection fee. Bigger items, like sidewalk replacement or unpermitted work that needs to be legalized, are worth pricing out early so they don't turn into a surprise during negotiations. For more on getting a house ready before it lists, this guide on preparing a house to sell in Delaware County covers the broader picture.
And if the inspection turns up work that was done without a permit, it doesn't go away on its own. The guide to selling a house with unpermitted work or open permits explains how to get it legalized.
More
Find your municipality's permit and zoning contacts. See also the permit FAQ, the glossary, and Do You Need a Permit for a Fence in Delaware County, PA?.