Should I be concerned about environmental problems in purchasing commercial property?

If you are purchasing commercial property, you should absolutely be concerned about potential environmental problems. Pollution and other environmental issues are taken very seriously and if you are the owner of land that is contaminated, you may be required by the state and federal government and federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up that land. Sometimes, this can be a huge expense, especially if groundwater or soil of commercial property has been contaminated and/or if chemical or dangerous wastes are present.

Purchasing Commercial Property

When you are a buyer of any property, you need to both do your due diligence and make sure that you have a legal contract in place that will protect you in the event that something does go wrong. This is especially important if you are purchasing commercial property:

• You need at least a Phase One Environmental study to help you evaluate the environmental risks. This will help you to identify whether there are any potential problems that you could face later based on contamination;
• It is also a good idea to require the owner to give you a disclosure statement listing any known hazards or possible hazards. If the contract requires that such hazards be disclosed and something isn't told to you, you may later be able to sue for breach of contract and collect any damages that resulted from the non-disclosure of required information.

There may also be other things you can do to protect yourself as well, such as having further investigation or testing done or including a clause requiring the previous owner to indemnify you against any cleanup actions. To make sure that you take all of the steps necessary to protect your rights, and to ensure your business doesn't end up footing the bill for a very expensive environmental cleanup, it is in your best interests to consult with an attorney.