Underground Oil Tank (UST) Decommissioned with kitty litter?

Question

Has anyone ever done a deal which included a proper and complete residential fuel oil tank decommissioning having been performed by the seller personally (not a hired contractor), using cat litter, then never having the decommissioning certified/filed/inspected with the proper local authorities? I checked with the correct authority, they have no record of a tank or a decommissioning.

If the seller told you that's how "it was decommissioned"... and the garage smelled like fuel oil, how would you respond?

Thank you all for your time!

If the seller told you that's how "it was decommissioned"... and the garage smelled like fuel oil, how would you respond?

Thank you all for your time!

Mike McCarthy · Answer

20 years ago, self-decommissioning was typical. Fill the tank with sand or kitty litter to make sure the tank doesn’t ‘float’, cut the pipes, and call it done. Obviously nowadays, it’s a much different requirement.

Tank cleanups can be really expensive, or if all goes well, not too bad. But it’s not something I’d want to risk. I’d have the seller remove the tank as part of the contract. Even if you pay $2K at closing to have it removed - but the liability is on the seller if there’s something bad.

Dan Tangen · Answer

When we bought the house we are living in there was a 2,000 gallon fuel oil tank buried in the front of the house.

It had been disconnected from the furnace when the furnace was switched over to propane, but tank was never removed.

We found out from the state environmental agency that the tank needed to be inspected before anything could be done. Once it was inspected it could be dug out. Once out they tested the soil in the hole where the tank came from for indications of fuel in the soil. In this case they didn't detect any.

We also found out that if they had detected fuel they would require more soil to be removed and it is now considered contaminated soil and has to be disposed of in a special area. They would keep removing soil until they could not detect any oil. After finding this info we requested the seller remove the tank. It ended up costing around $1700 but could have been very costly if it had leaked.

Dan T