Viewed house, found boiler dripping kerosene

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 8:46am #1

We viewed a house the other day and found a fast drip (faster than a drip a second) of kerosene from the pipe going into the boiler. The boiler room is in the house (on the corner and with only an external door, no connection to indoors). There was a puddle and a strong smell of kerosene, and the earth outside the door smelled of kerosene. We don't know how long it had been leaking for; we don't know what's left in the tank or when it was last filled.

My brain says to run like the wind and leave them to it, but it would be a great property for us, assuming the cleanup was correctly dealt with by the current owner and their insurance. The EPA and county council have told me there's no way of knowing if it's done properly other than having our own experts go in and check it all; there's no certification or anything we can ask for.

Am I insane to not have dismissed it already?

Krombopulos Michael · 10-10-2019 8:48am

I wouldn't dismiss it immediately. Have someone qualified to inspect it and give a cost of repair. You can then go back to the seller and advise they either fix it properly or reduce the cost of the house to offset the repairs.

Edit: to note, if you pay for inspection of the leak and repairs and the seller refuses to repair or drop price, you will be out the cost of the inspection, but this is better than purchasing with a major issue.

I paid 650euro for a engineer survey of a house, found about 12k work of repairs need and seller refused to repair or reduce price of the house, so I walked away, but that saved me walking into a money pit.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 8:53am

I'm half afraid that they'll do a basic clean up of the boiler room and then hold out for a buyer who doesn't know the leak happened and wouldn't notice that the ground outside had an issue.

gozunda · 10-10-2019 8:54am

Remedying a kerosene leak which has soaked into soil can be extremly expensive. If the area affected is extensive - the recommended solution is to have a professional waste company specialising in oil spills to survey the site. Where there is considerable soil contamination- the usual process is to remove all the soil in the affected area.

The cost could be prohibitive.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 8:59am

We'd be having a building survey done anyway, but that wouldn't be sufficient for something like this.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 9:00am

The cost would be why I'd want it handled by the vendor's insurance (assuming they have it; they may not). Obviously if we bought it and dealt with it ourselves, our insurance wouldn't cover it.

RiseToMe · 10-10-2019 9:02am

TwoCats wrote: »

I'm half afraid that they'll do a basic clean up of the boiler room and then hold out for a buyer who doesn't know the leak happened and wouldn't notice that the ground outside had an issue.

I'd be of the opinion that this is most likely what will happen. I can't see somebody looking to sell ploughing money back into the property if they can clean the obvious up, stop the leak and hope they still get their asking. Surely whoever is selling it for them has noticed and mentioned it and nothing has been done anyway.

If they do plough the money in you can be sure that it will be reflected in a higher asking price.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 9:05am

If they clean it up, it won't make the house worth any more than it was when there was no leak known about! The agent is aware because he was there when we found it, but he seemed surprised.

drunkmonkey · 10-10-2019 9:07am

Take a plumber to have a look with you, won't cost much especially if you know one. Check what kind of pipe is coming from the fuel tank to the boiler. It's possible it's plastic so to do things right your looking at digging up from the tank to the house but at that stage your into costing putting in a modern heating system.
If it's leaking under the house that's serious I know of one house had to be taken down over it.
Kerosine is smelly and does linger it's possible they were collecting the drip inside and just throwing it out the door. You really need to talk to who's living there to find out what's going on.

10-10-2019 9:11am

A woman in work had her kerosene stolen (well half a tank was taken) and the scum left the other half to runout into the ground.
The kerosene smell was coming up through the ground floor of the house.
They had to dig out the floor of the house and remove the soil.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 9:23am

We know where the drip is coming from, we could see it coming out of the boiler. It's where it might have gone that's the problem. It's pooling on the concrete slab floor, which continues under the whole house. It has spread as far as far as the porous brick walls between the boiler room and the rest of the house. The earth outside will take it into contact with the foundations of the rest of the house. There's a manhole two feet from the boiler room door which the ensuite soil pipe leads into, and presumably that leads eventually to the septic tank? There's a 200 square metre shed 6 feet away that could be sitting on contaminated earth.

It could be a hell of a mess.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 10:56am

I've contacted a local cleanup company who look to be competent, to see if they'd have a poke around and quote us a rough figure, or agree to do testing after any cleanup arranged by the vendor.

Would there be any point in getting someone else to arrange a viewing for themselves to see if it's mentioned, or is that pointless, on the basis that if that's their approach, there's nothing we can do about it?

Krombopulos Michael · 10-10-2019 10:59am

TwoCats wrote: »

Would there be any point in getting someone else to arrange a viewing for themselves to see if it's mentioned, or is that pointless, on the basis that if that's their approach, there's nothing we can do about it?

Don't arrange others to view to see if it's mentioned, as you will make the estate agent/seller believe there is more demand on the property than there is.

K.Flyer · 10-10-2019 11:11am

Depending on the extent of contamination from the oil leak, clean up costs could very easily run to tens of thousands up to a hundred thousand or more, to clean up.
I have seen a house where they had to dig out most of the ground floor down to approx 8 feet to remove contaminants. Then the place had to be treated and the contaminated soil / rubble shipped out for treatment.
If the current owner has no insurance, theye may not be in a financial position to rectify it themselves.
I would personally want an environmental study carried out by a specialist company with the correct detection equipment and samples taken to determine the extent of the contamination before any further consideration is given to buying it.

Wearb · 10-10-2019 1:20pm

Why isn't the EPA section of the local authority working on this. I have seen them insist on such remedies when aware of it.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 1:28pm

Having reread the email from the council, they said when they are notified of such complaints, they would follow up with the landowner. If an investigation and remediation has been carried out, then we should send in our own independent assessor. So I suppose we could complain to the council? Which seems an awfully heavy handed approach to take when we want them to sell us their house...

K.Flyer · 10-10-2019 3:13pm

I've read through this again and I think, unless you have a certified proof of decontamination, Walk Away!
This has the potential to cost you a blind fortune if after moving in you find you were mislead about the seriousness of it.
You mentioned that there is a septic tank, is the water supply on a well?
If it is on a well you must have the water tested to ensure it's ok. Any trace of oil in it then absolutely walk away.

Wearb · 10-10-2019 3:24pm

K.Flyer wrote: »

I've read through this again and I think, unless you have a certified proof of decontamination, Walk Away!
This has the potential to cost you a blind fortune if after moving in you find you were mislead about the seriousness of it.
You mentioned that there is a septic tank, is the water supply on a well?
If it is on a well you must have the water tested to ensure it's ok. Any trace of oil in it then absolutely walk away.

Could take a long time for oil to show in a well. Even then it might not show at the tap if the footvalve is below oil level floating on top of the water. It's a job for the experts to determine the extent of the problem.

Btw I think that everyone who is aware of this has a responsibility to report it to relevant body. The time of ignoring environmental issues has long passed.

TwoCats · 10-10-2019 3:39pm

Spoke to the agent. Apparently a builder is currently removing the boiler and the contaminated floor of the boiler room, and replacing the floor, (and repairing an unrelated roof issue) at a cost of €2,500. Viewings have been suspended till next week, when it should be finished.

I'll be getting an accredited specialist in oil spill clean up in to do tests before making an offer. I have strong suspicions about what he'll find.

daheff · 12-10-2019 8:59am

OP

at this stage i wouldnt be wasting anymore time/money on the property. if this is an issue they've ignored, god knows what else has been ignored.

I get the sense you really like this property as you seem to want to make it work... but sometimes you need to use your head and know you need to walk away.

Viewed house, found boiler dripping kerosene

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