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Samantha Mallon

Local Guides

Selling a Home in the Owen J. Roberts District, PA: Six Townships, Six Different Answers

The six townships of the Owen J. Roberts school district each answer the resale question differently. South Coventry certifies your sidewalk for $50. East Vincent televises the sewer lateral with thirty days notice. West Vincent runs a change-of-occupancy certificate down to certified fuse boxes. North Coventry, East Coventry, and Warwick ask nothing, and Warwick levies no municipal property tax at all. Explained for sellers.

By Samantha Mallon, SRES®, licensed in PA & NJ · Reviewed August 2, 2026 · 7 min read

The Owen J. Roberts school district is six townships wrapped around French Creek, and each answers the resale question its own way. East Vincent televises the sewer lateral with thirty days notice. South Coventry certifies your sidewalk for $50. West Vincent inspects at change of occupancy down to the fuse box. North Coventry, East Coventry, and Warwick ask nothing, and Warwick does not even levy a municipal property tax. Same district, six rule books.

The district picture

Buyers come for the school district and the land: hobby farms in Warwick, estate lots in the Vincents, and the district’s most accessible prices along North Coventry’s Route 100 corridor. Almost everything outside the sewered pockets runs on septic and wells, which moves the real preparation into the seller’s own filing cabinet.

The three with requirements

  • East Vincent: thirty days for the lateral. The 2021 ordinance inspects inside and out for illegal connections and televises the lateral; notice goes to the township thirty days before settlement, the longest municipal clock in the district.
  • South Coventry: the sidewalk certificate. Ordinance 1-2020 requires the township to certify sidewalks and pathways at point of sale, $50, one of the narrowest resale requirements in the region.
  • West Vincent: the occupancy checklist. The certificate reaches from certified fuse boxes to garage door auto-reverse and metal dryer ducts; confirm the current fee and timing with the township office at 610-458-1601.

The three that ask nothing

North Coventry, East Coventry, and Warwick require no resale inspection or certificate. Warwick’s zero municipal millage and South Coventry’s half mill make the district’s west side a tax story buyers appreciate hearing with numbers attached. In all three, the septic record, the well test, and the permit file stand in for the inspector nobody sends.

The Pennsylvania money

All six townships sit at the standard 2% total realty transfer tax, customarily split, so the seller’s half on a $550,000 sale is $5,500. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and the federal exclusion, $250,000 single and $500,000 married, covers most owner-occupants. The home-sale tax guide and the cost-to-sell guide carry the detail.

Getting started

The district order: a free valuation, the township identified against the parcel, East Vincent’s thirty-day notice filed early where it applies, and the septic, well, and permit files assembled before the buyer’s inspector asks. Westward, the Elverson and West Nantmeal guide covers the next townships toward the Berks line, the Chester Springs and Kimberton guide the ring south of the Vincents, and the Chester County downsizing guide maps where sellers here land next.

Owen J. Roberts seller questions

Which Owen J. Roberts townships require something at resale?

Three of the six. East Vincent adopted a sewer lateral inspection ordinance in February 2021: an internal and external inspection to find illegal connections like sump pumps and downspouts, plus a video run of the lateral to confirm no breaks let rainwater into the line, with a thirty-day notice to the township before settlement. South Coventry requires a sidewalk and pathway certification at point of sale, $50, under Ordinance 1-2020. West Vincent runs a certificate of occupancy at change of occupancy with a checklist that includes certified fuse boxes, garage door auto-reverse, a UL-listed metal dryer duct, and sewer vent caps; confirm the current fee with the township office. North Coventry, East Coventry, and Warwick require nothing at transfer.

What does East Vincent’s lateral inspection involve?

The most thorough process in the district, and the longest clock. The ordinance targets rainwater infiltration into the public sewer, so the inspection looks both inside and outside the house: sump pumps and downspouts must not feed the sanitary line, and the lateral itself is televised to confirm no breaks or separations. The township wants thirty days notice before settlement, which means the inspection belongs in listing week, not after the agreement of sale. Spring City borough, the district’s neighbor, runs a separate process, and only part of East Vincent is sewered at all; homes on septic prepare the pump-out record instead.

Is it true Warwick Township has no property tax?

Yes. Warwick levies no municipal real estate tax, zero mills, so the tax bill is county and school district only. South Coventry is nearly as light at half a mill. That tax posture is part of the sales pitch for the district’s western townships, along with French Creek, State Game Lands, and the Hopewell Furnace countryside. The tradeoff is rural infrastructure: nearly everything runs on septic and wells, so the paperwork that matters at sale is private, the three-year pump records, water tests, and permit files that buyers’ lenders and inspectors will request regardless of what the township skips.

What is the Owen J. Roberts market like for sellers?

District-driven and land-rich. Owen J. Roberts consistently ranks among the region’s strong school systems, and its six townships offer what closer-in Chester County no longer can: acreage, barns, and new-construction neighborhoods at prices below Downingtown and West Chester equivalents. Buyers are families chasing the district and equestrian and hobby-farm buyers chasing the land. North Coventry’s Coventry Mall corridor carries the most accessible price points, the Vincents and South Coventry the estate middle, and Warwick the rural top. Sellers win by preparing the private file early, because no township process will force the schedule for them.

About the author

Samantha Mallon, SRES®

Samantha is a real estate agent with Compass, licensed in Pennsylvania (RS365940) and New Jersey (2440598), holding the SRES® (Seniors Real Estate Specialist®) designation. Before real estate she earned a finance degree at Rutgers and a master’s in analytics at Georgia Tech, and worked in management consulting at Deloitte, a background she now applies to pricing, preparation, and honest guidance for sellers navigating downsizing, longtime homes, and family transitions across Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey.

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