Buyer beware! In Pennsylvania, if you don't have hazardous waste contamination on the property you are buying, the seller does'nt have to disclose any known contaminants nearby:

At the Watson-Johnson farm next door, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had already spent a year investigating a 32-acre landfill in which 3,200 tons of lead, PCBs, and other chemicals had been illicitly buried in the 1960s.



No one - not the developer, the real estate agent or the appraiser - told the family of the toxic cache about one-quarter mile from their home. Legally, no one had to.

Under a Pennsylvania law that the Buteauxs and others hope to change, sellers are not required to disclose contamination unless it is on the lot itself. In a state where the EPA has identified 567 hazardous-materials sites - 271 in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks and Chester Counties alone - the onus is on the buyer to find any hazards lurking beyond the property line.


If you should have any questions concerning waste in your area (in PA), go here Every other state can go here.