Westtown Township wraps around the south side of West Chester with West Chester schools, larger lots, and a resale rule that is easy to satisfy and easy to fumble. The certificate itself is a $100 inspection with a published checklist. The trap is the calendar: two weeks minimum to schedule, sixty days before the certificate expires, and no certificate at all while an old permit sits open.
The Westtown seller picture
Most Westtown homes carry a West Chester mailing address, so start by confirming the parcel is actually in the township; the borough next door runs on a completely different rulebook with no resale certificate at all. Westtown sellers skew long-tenured, buyers come for the schools and the lots, and the municipal step is the only paperwork between a signed agreement and the closing table.
The $100 process
The township’s application and FAQ lay out the sequence:
- 01Pay and schedule. $100 to Westtown Township, received before the inspection can be booked, and you contact the building inspector directly. Inspections must be scheduled at least two weeks ahead of the settlement date.
- 02Pass the checklist. The criteria run against the Uniform Construction Code: smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, GFCI receptacles, sump pump discharge, and the other safety basics printed on page two of the application. No property is grandfathered, regardless of age.
- 03Fix and reinspect if needed. Each reinspection is $82.50, and some repairs, electrical or plumbing work in particular, can themselves require a permit, which delays the final certificate.
The 60-day shelf life
A Westtown certificate is valid for sixty days from issuance. If settlement slips past the window, the house gets reinspected and a new certificate issued. That makes the timing a two-sided problem: apply too late and you miss the two-week scheduling minimum; apply months early and the certificate dies before closing. The clean play is to apply as soon as you have an executed agreement of sale, which lands the inspection comfortably inside both windows. If a conditional approval is in play, extensions run $150 per occurrence for up to 90 days.
The Pennsylvania money
Westtown sits at the standard 2% total realty transfer tax, customarily split, so the seller’s half on a $700,000 sale is $7,000. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and long-tenured owners here routinely clear the federal exclusion thresholds, $250,000 single, $500,000 married, which makes improvement records worth gathering. The home-sale tax guide and the cost-to-sell guide carry the detail.
Getting started
The Westtown order: a free valuation, the permit history pulled at listing, the application filed at agreement of sale, and the checklist walked before the inspector does. Downsizers weighing where to land can start with the Chester County downsizing guide and the neighboring East Goshen and West Chester guides; the sequencing guide settles the order of operations.