Yes, definitely makse sure they remove tank and any contaminated soil.

I went through this process and it was horrible. The sellers refused to remove the tank, and ended the deal. We were heartbroken. It took them another 2 months to realize that they were not going to be able to sell the house with a buried oil tank. At that point, they removed the tank and contaminated soil, and contacted us again to see if we were still interested.
So, definitely stick to your guns here.

We used Tadco, the guy was great. He had actually removed the tank from our next door neighbor so he knew exactly where to find our tank. Which was super helpful, because the sellers had paid someone else to do a tank sweep and said there was not tank... because they didn't look in the right place! Asif from Tadco knew where to look.

It's Jersey City , most houses built before WW2 started out as coal burning then were converted to oil heat . Growing up in JC there was always a oil truck delivering oil getting in the way of touch football, stick ball , street hockey or box ball .

In most suburban NJ towns it would be impossiable to sell a property with a in ground oil tank on the premises . Forget the de-comission BS . If your buying a property , have a tank search preformed . If one is found , have the owner remove it before closing . If contamination is found, go find a another house. I've been down this road a couple of times on both sides of the issue. Any lawyer that would let you close with a tank in the ground , follow the above advice just change "another house for another lawyer" . If you have to have a tank removed call Mike Waters 908-964-4860 I don't know if he will even work in JC but he has the most valuable asset when dealing with oil tanks . He's honest. Once the tank is gone switch the property to gas.

Tanks have to be removed even if sand is place in the tank. Today, you are waiting 4 years for state re-reimbursement, it used to be right away.

Currently going through same process. Out of Contract. Under 14 day inspection period. Seller disclosed there was no oil tank. We didn't believe it. We used Accurate Tank Testing LLC to scan. 275 dollars. They found an oil tank. We will not purchase the house UNTIL Seller removes tank, replaces all contaminated soil. DO NOT Agree EVER to take on the responsibility of removing an oil tank. . . that is on the Seller if the Seller ever wants to sell the house.

Look at this thread

Re: Oil Tank - How do I find out if property has one?

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They removed one on my block recently - complete nightmare. They struck a sewer line in the process and were literally digging up the street every day for about a week to fix the issue. Water was shut off for the whole block for about 4-6 hours everyday while they worked, and of course the street was blocked. One day they even worked through the entire night (4pm-7am) which was a real treat. Not to say you'll have the same issue, highly doubt you will ? this is just an example of a "worst case scenario."

Buried Oil tank? So fun. I'm wondering if anyone can help me out. I'm looking for the proper Jersey City public office that could give me information on possible oil tank removal at a home in the heights I'm considering purchasing. The current owner has "no knowledge" of a tank but I'm trying to cover all my bases. I hear oil tanks can be a bit of a nightmare.

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My reading gives me the impression that decommissioned tanks like that could be a problem selling the property down the road, and I believe it's existence is required to be disclosed. The problem is that some of the methods to test that they're not leaking are not dependable. The only way to truly know is pull the tank, and then you're in for a ride if it's leaked.

This whole thing has gotten a little crazy, and perhaps the above "impression" is being fostered by those making a killing on the removal and remediation business.

Sand filling a tank no longer an option? That is what I did (years ago). This was for tanks that were not leaking though.

In June 2008 I had my 550 gallon tank removed & replaced it with a 275 gallon interior ROTH tank for about $3500 total. They got all the permits etc.... I used Oil Tank Services Inc. in Westfield NJ, 908-518-0732. They did a great job. Getting the new tank into my cellar was a huge hassle since the doorway into the cellar was a little too tight but the owner spent the time and dismantled the door frame. He did a nice job. Luckily the door is in my tenants' closet.

If I were ever to do it again, I would fill the former tank hole with gravel and not rock dust. MY tank was in the front yard like most and I had pavers over it. The price included the rock dust but next time gravel and I'd let it settle for 6 weeks and then get a load of rock dust, let that settle and then replace the pavers.

MY tank was functioning and solid.... They do bang around in it so much that if there's a weak spot, voila... a hole.... It happened to my neighbor.

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I have no idea. I think there's an DEC reporting requirement on the part of the tank contractor, but I'm not even sure about the tester. And since I paid for the test, unless I send them a certified letter with the results, the seller has plausible deniability.

And does each new potential buyer need to hire someone to test the soil and discover for themselves that it has leaked?

Or, now that you have done it, is there a legal obligation on the seller to inform any potential buyer?

Robin.

The property I had a contract on has a tank that tested leaky and I'm walking away. It has me thinking just what does this whole issue mean from a public policy standpoint? Who's going to buy a house which has a liability possibly equal to it's selling price? The bank will end up owning it, and then what? No one will buy it, and the city will end up owning it. Then what? Treat it like a superfund site and give it to anyone who will clean it up?

There must be thousands of buildings in JC with leaky oil tanks, and resolving the RE mess will force this issue to the front burner in a way it hasn't been, no?

We just decommissioned a 1000 gal tank in JC - removed it and restored sidewalk. Cost about $15K total - we were lucky because the soil was not contaminated where we needed to do additional remediation. Used Dresdner Robin in downtown JC. They were very good - did all the work - permits, paperwork, etc.

How about decommissioning a tank? Any recommendations?

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There's insanity in the market now. We had a short in attorney review when they took a higher offer. I asked the guy why, he was never going to see the money. He said he was trying to reduce his liability to come up with the difference. The joke was this guy was well over half a million short on 5 properties including his home, and still didn't realize he was going to go bankrupt.

I got a price for boring test of $650, it seems like a bargain. He said since there could still be some minor leakage undetected, we should not be surprised if it costs $10k to clean it up after removal. This guy said he currently has several cleanup sites that have surpassed $200k!! I'll get me a shovel, that's the business to be in: government mandated cleanups.

The tanks were in the front courtyards and yes $2500 was only to dig out and remove the tank. Our crew eventually redid the courtyard with slate once the renovation was complete.

To give you a bit of piece of mind we were told that they would have to find a decent amount of oil in the ground to report it or see a large hole in your tank. Given the row houses are so close they have to be reasonably sure it came from your tank and not the guy next door.

I hear you on the costs of the short sale. We spent a decent amount and 5 months only to have it fall through. This is on a place in not the greatest neighborhood with no other offers in over a year. We were sure the bank was going jump at the chance to get rid of it.

Thanks Landshark.

This whole thing is pretty fraught with crazyness. We need to spend all kinds of money before the bank weighs in on whether they'll sell it or not. And since there's no way they'll hold escrow, we'll need to do the definitive test of the soil under the tank through bore holes in the sidewalk before closing. It sounds like you were not considering that test, just the pressure or water dip tests.

Was the tank you removed for $2500 under the sidewalk? Surely that wasn't the total cost including repairing the walk? It blows my mind that everywhere I read they say these tanks had a lifespan of 10-15 years and they've probably been there for 50!

While we technically could have tested we were given the impression that it did not provide much protection for us as they would not really know if there was a leak until it was removed. I don't remember what the cost of the test was but given removal was ~$2500 we opted to go for the removal & abatement certificate.

In the first instance it was still in use but were planning on a gut renovation of the place so made since to just pull it out.

In the second it was no longer in use as the heating system had been updated.

Good luck on your short sale. We were under contract for one but the bank was still $90k above what our appraisal was for and not willing to come down. Amazing what some people paid for buildings during the height of everything.

Thanks landshark. Why could you not do a core test in contract? My attorney thinks it should cost ~$1500. It would be a loss if positive since we would walk, but given this is a "as is" short sale, there's no other way to truly protect ourselves.

The annual oil cost represented by the seller for the steam heat is ridiculously high, $12k for 3 unit + 1/2 basement frame house. I thought it was just the high price of oil and system inefficiency, but now I fear it could all be in the ground!

Not sure your exact question but we recently have been through this on two properties.

In both cases there was no way to test the tank given the location in front of the house/sidewalk.

For the first we included a clause in the contract that we would close with the tank but the seller had to escrow $30k until we got a clean report for the tank removal back from Tadco. We did take on some risk here if there was a massive spill & cleanup required. All went fine and the seller got the full escrow.

On the second property we required the owner to remove the tank at his expense prior to closing so we would have no liability. We did help out with the coordination with Tadco and permits to keep things moving along.

We're looking at a rental property with a buried oil tank under the sidewalk. I knew these were bad news, but didn't really realize how bad till I did some reading. Holy crap! It's starting to look like there's no way to test effectively in contract, it would require boreholes through the sidewalk.

Unfortunately most of the info and anecdotes out there relate to suburban situations where tanks are more accessible in the lawn, but groundwater contamination can be taken more seriously since people have wells. Does anyone have more to add to this thread about how this plays out in JC?

The company the sellers used in our case was:

Tadco Engineering And Environmental Service LLC
59 Bleecker St # A
Jersey City, NJ 07307
201-222-5322

Fortunately I have not closed on the house yet so the seller is going to be responsible for removing the tank - I am just trying to help them out by recommending someone to do it.

I have found (as you all indicated) that I can't even get insurance from any reputable company with an underground tank, even if it were not leaking. So they are going to replace it with an above-ground tank in the basement.

Wish I could just switch to gas; however the oil furnace is almost brand new - replaced by the sellers last summer - so I can't ask them to absorb that cost - but I may do it at some point in the future.

This homebuying business has been quite the learning experience! I'm just thanking my lucky stars I had the tank & soil test done before closing so I am not on the hook for all this.

Sorry...like Woodsy, my situation involved buying a house with an underground tank. My lawyer advised requiring the seller to formally abandon the tank before we took title. That happened. Somewhere I have an official certificate of abandonment.

The seller also contributed about 1/3 ($1700, I think) of the cost of putting in a new, gas-fired boilder and hauling away the 50 year-old oil boiler.

All in all...I'm very glad we abandoned the oil tank.

DO NOT USE ANCO!!!!! I used them last year to have a leaky oil tank removed and it was and still is a nightmare. Unfortunately, my tank failed a pressure test that was required by my insurance company to renew the policy. Upon finding this out, we thought that we could just have the tank filled so we went with ABLE. When they cut the tank, it was littered with holes so they told us that we had to pursue soil remediation. I have heard of other companies who come and just foam fill your tank without cutting the top off to see if their are any holes and truthfully, i would have done this if I knew it would cost us over 35,000 but I thought it would be better to do it the right way, so we pursued having the soil remediated. We got several estimates from about six different companies and unfortunately settled on ANCO. They came and removed 55 tons of soil from an area that is roughly 10'x12'. Then they told us that it looked as though they might have to go under the foundation of our house. At that point I got a lawyer. Once I informed them of this, miraculously, they found that the soil was fine and they began filling the site. This was after they cracked a brick wall and cut down a wrought iron fence. Legally, all these companies charge by the hour, and so you are supposed to get a complete breakdown of costs. I was home during the entire process, so I sat outside and monitered their hours. When I got their bill, they completely lied about the number of hours as well as the number of people on site. They doubled it. I am now still waiting for a closure report. Without this, you cannot get approval from the DEP, so you are screwed if you want to ever sell your house. Long story short, do not go with your cheapest estimate, and check to see if they are a" bright star" company. This is a credential oil remediation companies can get which can expediate the paperwork process with the state. The company that started the work, ABLE, was much more organized and although alittle pricey (they all are) , you get what you pay for...Good Luck

Here's some information that might help you ask the right questions to potential contractors


http://www.epa.gov/swerust1/faqs/index.htm

In our case the person selling the house had to do the removal. I don't remember offhand what company did it but I have the information at home. I had the tank inspected by ATS. Our situation involved a leaky tank, which we thankfully found out about before we closed on the property. Since the tank leaked they had to remove not only the tank but all of the contaminated soil too. The final bill for that, including the instillation of an above ground tank, was about $16,000. PM me with your contact info and I can send you a breakdown if you'd like.

Regardless of whether the tank is leaky or not I would have it entirely removed, rather than just filled, otherwise it will be a headache when you sell the house.

I used US Tanks (732-961-2057, Howell, NJ) but I think they only do foam fills for abandonment, not removal. For a 1000 gallon tank it cost $1200 including permit, plus $120 to pump out any quantity of old oil -- required if more than 2" of oil is in the tank.

A neighbor recommended Anco Environmental (908-464-9200, 35 Russo Place, Berkeley Heights, http://www.ancoenv.com/ ). For a 1000 gallon tank, they quoted $1150 for sand fill, $1300 for removal, or $1450 for foam fill -- prices do not include permit, which is $100-$200, or oil removal at $0.75 per gallon.

Prices are from a couple years back.