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| Hazards In Home & Work Place |
Detection & Abatement
 |
By Mark Hagadone |
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Today's buyers, sellers, and real estate agents are becoming increasingly responsible--legally--for potential environmental hazards associated with the sale or transfer of real property.
Our firm is a locally owned analytical and consulting laboratory established in 1978. We provide services to determine special environmental, forensic, occupational, and laboratory related problems. Our experience in a variety of fields offers expertise not readily available to the public elsewhere in the Pacific basin. In the present discussion, we confine ourselves largely to the transfer of residential real property in the United States.
Under a new federal law effective in December, 1996 property owners must disclose known information on lead-based paint hazards before selling a property or before a lease takes effect. If you are buying, your real estate agent ensures there is legal disclosure by attaching a HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) "Notice To Purchasers" disclosure form to your sales agreement. In part, this form states:
The standard sales contract typically used by the Honolulu Board of Realtors contains an asbestos disclosure clause with language similar to the following:"Watch Out For Lead-Based Paint…If the home you intend to purchase was built before 1978, it may contain lead-based paint. About three out of every four pre-1978 buildings in the United States have lead based paint…The appraisal does not determine whether a home actually has lead-based paint. It only identifies whether there are defective paint surfaces in a home that might have lead based paint… the only way you can know for sure is to have the home tested by a qualified firm or laboratory. Both the interior and exterior should be tested. You should contact your local health or environmental office for help…HUD may insure a mortgage on a house with lead-based paint if defective paint surfaces are treated. HUD will not remove it."
"…In the past (before 1979, but possibly since) asbestos was a commonly used insulation material in certain types of floor and ceiling materials, shingles, plaster products, cement, and other building materials. Buyer is aware that buyer should make appropriate inquiry into the possible existence of asbestos on the property…Any disturbance should be done only by licensed abatement contractors."
If your property is to be surveyed for potential hazards (e.g. lead paint and
asbestos) a seller must supply results of this survey to a buyer within the due diligence
period specified in your sales contract. Determining which building materials contain
asbestos and which paints are lead-based is expected to become a requirement before
selling a home in the future.
In
addition to lead and asbestos, there are other potential hazards which are of concern to
today's property seller and purchaser and their real estate agents.
One of
these relates to the common household microwave oven. The Food and Drug Administration has
published rules and regulations for the safe and healthful operation of microwave ovens.
Radiation leakage may occur if door seals are damaged. Only
measurements by experienced personnel, using properly calibrated equipment, can verify
such a condition. By analogy, personnel exposure to non-ionizing microwave
radiation from satellite dishes, cellular telephone antennas, airport radar, etc. can only
be reliably assessed and evaluated by properly trained individuals.
Other
environmental concerns in the United States relate to water, soil, and air which can be
sampled and analyzed for pesticides, herbicides, metals, fungi, bacterial contaminants,
and many other conditions that can result in conditions which are considered hazardous to
your health. No person or property will be subject to all of these, and which you
encounter depends to some extent on where you live in the U.S. and what type of property
your are selling or purchasing.
Toxic
tort is the key word associated with many issues involving the unsuspected discovery of
"contaminated" property. This is an area of less concern to the residential home
buyer and seller, but one of which they should be aware. It relates more to industrial and
commercial properties, but definitely can involve residential (e.g. where a new housing
project is developed). To avoid an unanticipated dumpsite or a serious environmental
hazard associated with a property being transferred, a property hazard assessment may be
required.
The
property hazard assessment, if executed by experienced professionals, will generally
satisfy legal requirements relating to "due diligence" and "reasonable
doubt." It will rapidly effect the transfer of the property while minimizing the
long-term liability associated with unknown or "unseen" environmental concerns.
Without these properly executed documents, the buyer is potentially left in the precarious
position of remediating the environmental hazards discovered without the opportunity for
redress from seller (consult your attorney for specifics regarding these laws, and your
individual potential for liability under them).
For more
information or a complete list of they type of environment concerns we deal with, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
| Want To Know More? Contact Dr. Hagadone
Mark R. Hagadone, DABFE is 3615 Harding Avenue Suite #308, Honolulu, HI 96816 INALAB Is celebrating Its 20th Year Of |
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