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Old 03-26-2013, 06:54 PM
 
4 posts, read 17,091 times
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I placed an offer on a home in West Orange and found out that there is an underground oil tank which has been in use. If the offer is accepted can I have my attorney add this clause? I cannot get reasonable home insurance with this tank in the ground and have been advised that it needs to be decommissioned before the policy is issued. I am going to make the switch from oil to gas which shouldn't be a huge job since the range is gas. My question is whether I can push the seller to remove the oil tank or pay upfront and add this to the seller concessions. The offer hasn't yet been accepted but after reading about the horrors of oil leaks and the money to remediate, I am seriously worried. Can I get the oil to gas conversion done before the oil tank removal? Help!

Last edited by njerij; 03-26-2013 at 06:56 PM.. Reason: Adding location
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Old 03-26-2013, 07:08 PM
 
Location: MMU->ABE->ATL->ASH
9,317 posts, read 20,920,495 times
Reputation: 10443
You can add it during the attorney review period, does not mean they will accept it, Wanting them to convert from Oil to Gas, Remove the tank and all, will require them to raise the cost of the house by thousands of $' .

Don't Expect them do this on the current offer. Odds are they will reject you attorney conditions, and the deal will end.
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Old 03-26-2013, 07:30 PM
 
1,041 posts, read 3,003,458 times
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start finding another house. Having it removed will subject it to testing, which if a leak is found to have contaminated the ground will cost tens of thousands to remediate. There was a govt fund for this but has run out of funds long ago. do a search here, there are plenty of posts on this topic.
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Old 03-26-2013, 08:35 PM
 
Location: Randolph, NJ
4,073 posts, read 8,949,234 times
Reputation: 3262
Quote:
Originally Posted by njerij View Post
I placed an offer on a home in West Orange and found out that there is an underground oil tank which has been in use. If the offer is accepted can I have my attorney add this clause? I cannot get reasonable home insurance with this tank in the ground and have been advised that it needs to be decommissioned before the policy is issued. I am going to make the switch from oil to gas which shouldn't be a huge job since the range is gas. My question is whether I can push the seller to remove the oil tank or pay upfront and add this to the seller concessions. The offer hasn't yet been accepted but after reading about the horrors of oil leaks and the money to remediate, I am seriously worried. Can I get the oil to gas conversion done before the oil tank removal? Help!

Maybe, but that isn't the important question. You need to have the tank removed and soil tested before you can be comfortable.

Ans IF there is any sort of tank policy in place, converting to gas may negate any coverage.
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Old 03-26-2013, 09:55 PM
 
Location: NJ
2,210 posts, read 7,010,522 times
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We just bought a house which had an inground tank and had been for sale for years. We got the seller to remove it (took some persuading from his lawyer so I hear) and had the all clear. A lot of people walked away from that house because of the tank so hanging in there was worth it for us.

Seller had a tank "insurance" policy on it that actually covered the removal with a $2,500 deductable. Because we had already made an offer and he was touchy we offered to cover his costs of removal under that policy up to the deductable amount. Only ended up coming to $1,800 and it was done before we closed so we didn't have to shoulder the risk of any potential contamination. I think it was worth it.
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Old 03-27-2013, 04:46 AM
 
Location: The Milky Way Galaxy
2,256 posts, read 6,936,995 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyB View Post
We just bought a house which had an inground tank and had been for sale for years. We got the seller to remove it (took some persuading from his lawyer so I hear) and had the all clear. A lot of people walked away from that house because of the tank so hanging in there was worth it for us.

Seller had a tank "insurance" policy on it that actually covered the removal with a $2,500 deductable. Because we had already made an offer and he was touchy we offered to cover his costs of removal under that policy up to the deductable amount. Only ended up coming to $1,800 and it was done before we closed so we didn't have to shoulder the risk of any potential contamination. I think it was worth it.
Glad the risk worked out for you. It does not always work that way. In fact I believe even on NJ's EPA website they say less than 40% of oil tanks removed are not leaking when they are removed...obviously meaning that more than half are. They usually test the soil after they remove the tank. I can see why the lawyer tried to prevent their client from doing this because you could walk away only losing your deposit if they found any contamination and the seller would be stuck with the required cleanup. If they found anything then thats where testing, monitoring, and eventual cleanup start. Insurance policies don't cover an unlimited amount regarding contamination and costs of cleanups can easily go six figures.
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Old 03-27-2013, 07:27 AM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,343,071 times
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most deals fall apart because of this. where in W.O. are you looking?
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Old 03-30-2013, 03:18 PM
 
4 posts, read 17,091 times
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Default Situation Update

The seller accepted my offer today and I have been doing some research on the property records. I found out that in September of 2012 there was a NJDEP remediation report and an NFA issued (2/1/13) after the in-ground tank was replaced. Does this give me the all-clear to move ahead? I'm fine paying for the conversion to gas but just wanted to make sure I did not end up pay for remediation of an old tank. I still want to ask the seller to cover the removal (hopefully they have a policy in place) and might consider covering the deductible as AnthonyB did.
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Old 03-30-2013, 06:46 PM
 
Location: Randolph, NJ
4,073 posts, read 8,949,234 times
Reputation: 3262
Quote:
Originally Posted by njerij View Post
The seller accepted my offer today and I have been doing some research on the property records. I found out that in September of 2012 there was a NJDEP remediation report and an NFA issued (2/1/13) after the in-ground tank was replaced. Does this give me the all-clear to move ahead? I'm fine paying for the conversion to gas but just wanted to make sure I did not end up pay for remediation of an old tank. I still want to ask the seller to cover the removal (hopefully they have a policy in place) and might consider covering the deductible as AnthonyB did.

Are you saying they removed one undergroung oil tank and replaced it with another one under ground??? In THIS century??? And they didn't offer the reports, you only found them through your own searching?
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Old 03-30-2013, 06:55 PM
 
359 posts, read 1,095,712 times
Reputation: 258
i would run from this one.way to much risk.
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