Young couple discover that their new home was a meth lab.

Jenn Friberg and Rob Quigley bought their first home in March.
Five days later, their neighbors told them it used to be a meth house.
They suffered from headaches, sore throats and breathing difficulties.
What the couple discovered next was just as crushing: They would have to pay $61,000 for a professional cleanup.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/29/couple.buys.meth.house/index.html?iref=NS1

Lovely Bristol. That is in the historic part of Bristol. Beautiful homes. I'd be suspect about the price actually. My gram sold her home in Bristol about three years ago. She got more than that price and her house was not in such a nice area.

That aside I had seen a show all about this continuing problem across the country.

Nice of the neighbors to fill them in. They used to move P2P out of Bristol back in the early 80's. Nice to see they kept up with it. Poor people finally get a home and this happens.

O/T about 10 years ago my grandmom got hit over the head with a brick in that part of Bristol. Kids. An almost 80 year old woman gets a brick to the head and 30 stitches. Doubtful it had to do with the meth though.

My heart breaks for these young people. YOu do the right thing and you get this?



O.K. now I feel really sorry for these young people. They have a Facebook and will be on the local news this evening.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Our-Meth-House/119843118077833

Their Blog is immensely informative. Anyone looking into buying a home should have a look at that and the telltale signs a meth lab was run out of the house at one time.

This couple wants justice and I sure hope they get it.

porkchop said:

Jenn Friberg and Rob Quigley bought their first home in March.
Five days later, their neighbors told them it used to be a meth house.
They suffered from headaches, sore throats and breathing difficulties.
What the couple discovered next was just as crushing: They would have to pay $61,000 for a professional cleanup.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/29/couple.buys.meth.house/index.html?iref=NS1

Click to expand...

How very terrible for the couple, just starting out. This is like buying a home and finding out it has Black Mold. One has to leave. I know that after cooking meth for long periods people can get very ill.

The clean up cost is outrageous. How sad.

I guess this is a telling sign for those buying:

Quote:"We found out that one of the telltale signs of a meth house is frosted windows," said Friberg, 30."

I wish them good luck in whatever they decide to do now.

Goz

Couldn't the realty company be held somewhat responsible. I would think that they knew the house had been used for meth.

Sixty-One Thousand...wow.

Aren't there certain things realtors are supposed to tell home buyers by law? Or do you have to ask first? I know if you ask if anyone has been murdered/died in the home, by law, they have to tell you?

The thing with Meth... is that it is extremely dangerous. Houses literally blow up! Not to mention all the toxic chemicals that are in that house. I know that a lot of Meth houses are condemned because they are so unsafe? They can't be lived in? How can anyone, with any kind of conscious, allow this young couple to buy this home without telling them?

Is spending 61,000 dollars even a gurantee that this home will even be safe of all the toxic chemicals associated with Meth Labs? I don't think the couple should be held responsible for this at all, but I am sure since they didn"t think to ask... Hey, this house didn't happen to be a Meth Lab did it... is going to be the reason they (the realtor) aren't responsible. So messed up!

If this house was on the national registry as having been a meth lab, I don't believe for one second that the realty company didn't know. IMHO they should be responsible for the cleanup because they should have informed the potential buyers of the home's history. But hey, I don't know how the laws work in that state...

My recollection from my RE classes here in PA is that if the company or the sellers knew, they were required to disclose. However, if it was a bank-owned property, all bets are off (no disclosure required--it's "as is") and the buyers probably assumed someone had cats w/ litter box issues--a lot of people make that mistake w/ the smell.

I don't know how it works elsewhere but my understanding here is if LE comes in and finds a meth lab the property is held as an environmental hazard and basically called unlivable.

Then the county comes in with clean up requirements that have to be preformed by someone licensed to do hazard waste clean up. Most of the cost is tied up in hiring of those firms and their ridiculously high costs of where the drywall, carpet, etc... is disposed. It can't go to the landfill and allowed to leach into the soil and water.

Only after the property is certified as being cleaned does the permit for residence get returned. That of course would be in public records and disclosed by a realtor.

Now on the flip side if LE and the county are not aware of the meth lab, and someone just runs a lab and then moves or has their home foreclosed on there wouldn't be a record of that. And it wouldn't be until your neighbor informed you that you would know.

Their one source of possible recourse would be the insurance policy for whomever did their home inspection. If they didn't do a home inspection with a legit firm then unfortunately that is probably the most expensive $650 they ever saved themselves.