All appropriate inquiries

Definition

The pre-purchase investigation that decides whether a buyer inherits somebody else's solvent.

Why It Matters

A coin laundry is outside the dry-cleaner rule twice over, since that rule reaches only facilities using perchloroethylene and exempts coin-operated machines by name. The building is the exposure. Federal cleanup law makes the owner of a contaminated site liable for the cost of removal, and the defense that saves a buyer sets a list of criteria. Two are settled before closing: all disposal happened before the buyer acquired the property, and the buyer made all appropriate inquiries into previous ownership and uses. The rest run after closing, among them reasonable steps to stop a continuing release. Even a qualifying buyer can carry a lien for unrecovered costs. Florida's cleanup fund eligibility is unaffected by any conveyance, so a sale neither earns it nor loses it.