Well, I only see one picture, and it's of a gauge on the inside of the house, so that is not going to tell whether there is an underground tank somewhere. In many localities, a permit is required to remove a tank, and so there might be a record with the local authorities. You could also talk with the neighbors to see if they have any knowledge. Some localities also allow tanks to be abandoned in place if they are filled with a concrete slurry to encapsulate remaining oil or gunk in the tank, so it could be there and safely decommissioned. You could contact the local oil supply companies to see if they have records of deliveries that might reveal a location. Lastly, you could also have someone with a metal detector walk around the yard to see if there is a hidden fill pipe near the surface. (The part of the pipe above ground could have been removed and the rest of it and the tank left in place.)

Oil tanks are almost always single wall vessels that rust though in 30-40 years. Even if people quit using them and have them pumped out, the companies that do this typically don't pump everything out as they don't want all the gunk and sediment. That can leave you with a ticking environmental bomb.

Good luck in your research. If there is any possibility that there is one, it's important to know the condition of it. I had a friend who knew he had an oil tank located in the ground under the concrete in his garage. When he realized it was leaking, he ended up with a $400,000 hazardous waste cleanup project that his homeowners insurance finally agreed to pay only after he and his lawyer fought with them for a year. Make sure you know your liability before buying if there is a chance you have a disused oil tank on this property.

Thank you both. Agree. I have a call into the building dept this morning. Based on the photo and the setup does it look like it was inside (and has already been removed) or is this setup indicative of an outside tank?

If it was inside, there should be a fill valve on the outside of the home, with the tank on the other side of the basement wall. Do you see any marks on the basement floor where the tank stood? How about copper pipe from the tank to the Oil Burner?

What is suspicious is the hold in the basement wall - about 2' below the window - a pipe to the outside? Looks too low for an inside oil tank.

I'm just speculating. You need to find out.

The gauge on the inside is indicative of a system with a buried tank – otherwise there would have been a gauge on the tank!

You need the proper certificates of disposal and decontamination provided by the owner – at the owner’s expense. As indicated above – you could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of HELL trying to make this right - with a property that you can’t sell till it’s properly taken care of.

If you do purchase this property with a buried tank, I hope you have deep pockets, a good lawyer (environmental, insurance & divorce) - and nerves of steel.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

IMPO

SR

"Looking to purchase a house where the seller is not available to answer any prior history questions."

Pretty much say it all. Does your state have a mandatory disclosure law?

This was all great info! Don’t worry, if it’s still buried it’s a ‘no go.’ We just moved to this state and in a rental so I don’t know if it’s mandatory since the towns building manager said he doesn’t think he has it...

There are companies that can easily determine if there is a tank in the ground.

The reason why the seller isn’t available Ian hat it’s now bank owned. Old owner is not in picture. The bank knows nothing about the details of the property.....

Bryan - Bank owns it. Not knowing anything about the property is their problem. Simply ask them to make a determination, with proof/doc of course, or deal is a non-starter.

It's a funny thing but banks don't seem to give a cr_p if you walk on a deal. I guess they write of the carrying costs, so its no skin off their nose.