Environmental Contamination in Massachusetts Leaves Condo Owners Stuck
American real estate law provides a variety of protections for consumers including provisions for environmental hazards. But what happens when newly discovered ground contamination issues devastate property prices?
A case in Lowell, MA, as reported by WCVB TV Live Boston, illustrates how these kinds of circumstances lead to some complex issues and financial liability for residents, as well as tough challenges in local government.
In July of 2009, environmental testing found unusually high levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead, tetrachloroethene and other elements at the Willard Street condominium property in Lowell. The city paid for an Immediate Response Action Plan submitted in September to the State Department of Environmental Protection. However, further efforts to test the site have been delayed by procedural issues.
In the meantime, though city assessors have slashed values more than 35%, condo owners dispute their responsibility to pay any property taxes citing hardship in owning their units. Real estate agents have refused to sell the units on ethical grounds and so their owners are stuck with them. Renters in the units have moved out since the environmental issues were made public according to condo owners.
The case of the Willard Street property highlights complex issues of responsibility where the State Department of Environmental Protection has named the condo association and the City of Lowell as responsible for the issue. According to state law, both the original owners and the current owners of a property can be liable in these kinds of cases. City planners will have to make difficult decisions about spending under scrutiny by condo owners who say they are being overlooked by the city. This case details the kinds of debates and controversies that inform real estate law when new issues of contamination cause a large fluctuation in local property values and threaten the health and safety of residents.
Monheit is the managing lawyer at Monheit Law, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has practiced law since 1989. Michael Monheit was the managing attorney of the law offices of Herbert Monheit — now Silverman and Fodera — a firm founded by... Michael Monheit→
