Due Diligence Missteps Can Cost Building Owners Plenty

NEW YORK CITY-Area building owners aren’t being diligent about due diligence. That, at least, is the opinion of environmental attorney Lawrence P. Schnapf, founder of locally based Schnapf & Associates. He tells GlobeSt.com that marketplace pressures and changes in liability laws have encouraged a certain degree of corner-cutting on the part of property sellers and buyers alike. The result can be remediation charges ranging from $25,000 to $250,000–and that’s a must for underground tank cleanup, he notes. But the lawyer also tracks an increase in other areas of liability, including personal injury, property value and stigma claims.

Owners must take a more thorough approach to site inspections, data base searches and record reviews before they sign on the bottom line, the attorney recommends. And he notes that there are common problems and some quick fixes to ensure quality due-diligence.

“Beware of commodity style reports,” he urges. “These are just desktop reviews of records and cursory inspections of premises.” According to a state report, 70% of these reports fail to uncover site contamination, he adds.