Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

I am just finding out that our insurance could be a lot more

What did you do??

Im reading different suggestions online and need help!!

TIA

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

Our oil tank is in the ground. It did not cause our house insurance to be higher though. Where are you located?

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

Our's was buried, but we since converted to Gas and now it is abandoned.

It was not an issue for me when we bought with the Insurance Co.

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

We did, but it is abandoned, and we needed to get proof that it was abandoned professionally.

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

thanks so much!

how much did it cost to switch over and abandon??


TIA

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

A lot of ins companies will not accept you with an under ground oil tank so beware

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

I work for an environmental company that does insurance adjusting for one of the major insurance companies. We've had quite a few properties (especially recently) that involved underground storage tanks (USTs).

The USTs were abandoned and replaced with an above ground storage tank (AST) or natural gas or they were still in use.

Many times, the homeowner will have the tank removed either at the request of the bank or the buyer. Many times, those tanks have leaks. The steel that was used isn't very thick and soil / groundwater conditions can cause a tank to corrode even quicker.

If it's determined that the tank did leak and there is impact to the soil or groundwater, it can be a very expensive and timely process to remediate. Unfortunately, the insurance policy doesn't always cover the expenses. The company that we do work started a new endorsement policy regarding oil spills that stated that they have to be sudden and accidental and 3rd party impact has to be confirmed (that's usually contamination to someone else's property - the groundwater is "owned" by the state, so that would qualify as 3rd party).

Usually ASTs are covered under sudden and accidental. USTs are trickier though because of the difficulty of determining when the spill occurred. Usually a soil sample will be collected and the weathering of the oil will be dated to determine how long it's been exposed to "natural conditions." If that age date falls before the policy started or during the new endorsement policy, the homeowner is likely stuck footing the bill which can typically range from $8,000->$100,000.

If you haven't bought the house already, I strongly suggest you put something in the contract stating that the homeowner have the tank professionally removed and replaced with an AST. They may try to get away with just doing a tank tightness test, but truthfully, I wouldn't allow that - there's a chance that a pressure test could actually push "sludge" from the bottom of the tank that was actually "sealing" a hole.

Whatever you do, find out exactly what situations your insurance company will cover.

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

thanks
from what i understand, there are MANY people that have underground tanks

We cannot get the seller to pay for anything, because the house is a short sale and the sellers are gone. I suppose their bank can get in touch with them or my attorney can make a better deal with their bank / attorney

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

We have an 500 gal. underground tank. The old tank was abandoned. We got the paperwork from the Town. The new tank is fiberglass and supposably "the best". We did not have any problems getting HO insurance and our's wasn't more expensive b/c of it.

I think the only time it is a problem is when it is super old and has not been replaced with the new recommended fiberglass tank.

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??

Re: Anyone buy a home with buried oil tank??