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Meth labs in Utah have been a hot topic here for many years, but there’s a lot of misinformation out there regarding this. People have thought for a long time that Utah continually tops the nation for meth labs. While that might’ve been the case a decade ago, it just isn’t true anymore.
According to a 2014 DEA study, only one confirmed meth lab was busted in the state of Utah that year. If you compare that to a state like Indiana, which had 1,471 such cases, that’s making us look pretty darn good! Despite this low count, however, we’re still 7th in the nation for meth use. What a lot of people don’t know is that just having someone use meth in your home will significantly contaminate your property well above the Utah state limits, and you’ll be stuck cleaning up that mess. It’s hard to overlook someone setting up an illegal lab in your home, but it can be quite easy to overlook someone simply using the drug behind a closed door. Properties that you’d never guess would test positive for methamphetamine do indeed come back “hot.”
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You’re not obligated to disclose a past positive test if the home’s been remediated.
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What happens then? State law requires that if your home tests positive, you must use a state-approved decontamination company to clean it up. The good news is this process isn’t as destructive as it used to be. It is, however, still costly. Even a moderate cleanup can be around $5,000, and that doesn’t include the fact that, typically, the carpet, drapes, furniture, and anything else that can absorb that chemical have to be removed.
If there’s any good news here, it’s that there are laws that protect you if you have had to clean up a property. As long as it’s been decontaminated by a certified expert, you do not have to disclose that you ever had methamphetamine present in that property. If they don’t ask, you don’t have to tell just as long as it’s been professionally remediated. If they do ask though, the owner can’t lie in response to a direct question.
If you have any more real estate questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me a message right here on the website.