Questions and Answers for October 2015

As seen on our Message Boards.

Q: What is pollution insurance?

Landlord: "If you have an oil tank I strongly recommend getting the pollution insurance. Especially if it's an outside tank. I had a pollution waver on my policy and figured, 'Why do I need that? I don't have pollution!' Well last winter someone stepped on the oil line under the snow. The snow was not as deep next to the building, so when the tenant ran out of oil, he shoveled a path to the tank next to the building. Then the oil company delivered oil.

The line coming out of the tank was covered with snow. So the delivery person didn't notice the oil leaking out. The oil guy says the tenant did it the tenant says the delivery man did it. I didn't do it, but got stuck paying over $40,000 in clean up costs. That could be much worse if it happens inside the basement. I was told it could go over $100,000 to jack hammer the concrete and remove contaminated soil by hand. The extra $135 a year to insure oil tank is worth it.