California EPA Issues Friendly Warning To Lenders On Proper Disposition Of Hazardous Materials Left Behind Before Unloading Foreclosed Homes

The California Environmental Protection Agency recently announced:

• The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is offering options to lenders who are faced with clearing out the state’s unprecedented numbers of foreclosed homes and the abandoned household hazardous materials they often contain. [...] As the home foreclosure crisis continues to grow, homes left vacant many times contain hazardous materials. These products include pesticides, paint, batteries, cleaning solvents and many other items that may be hazardous waste once they are determined to be wastes.(1)

• When lenders foreclose on properties — and contract with restoration companies to prepare them for resale — both are liable for appropriately handling the materials and hazardous waste left behind. Disposing of hazardous waste in the trash or a municipal dump, pouring it down the drain, or otherwise mishandling it, is illegal and subject to fines of up to $25,000 per day, per incident [and/or imprisonment].

• To help avoid these consequences, DTSC recommends options to lenders and restoration companies for handling hazardous waste.

For more, see State Addresses Hazardous Waste Cleanup at Foreclosed Homes.

See also: California EPA Fact Sheet: Managing Hazardous Waste at Foreclosed Properties.

(1) Not to mention the residue left in homes previously used as meth labs, and the toxic mold problems proliferating in homes used as marijuana grow houses.