Innocent landowner defense

Definition

The federal shelter a buyer earns by looking before they buy.

Why It Matters

Federal cleanup law reaches an owner for contamination somebody else caused, which is the exposure that makes a Phase I worth its fee. The shelter is not automatic and it is not bought with the report alone: it requires all appropriate inquiries before the purchase, on a clock, and it requires the buyer to keep behaving reasonably afterwards, which means not making things worse and cooperating with the agency. Two consequences for a deal. A report the seller commissioned for its own refinance years ago is evidence of nothing for the buyer, and a report that sits too long between signing and closing has to be refreshed, which takes days the schedule may not have. Both are cheap to fix in the schedule and impossible to fix afterwards.

In numbers: The inquiries must sit within one year of the purchase, and five of their components within 180 days, so a study signed thirteen months earlier shelters nobody.