KMK Law Real Estate Blog

Probably the most widely used environmental standard to emerge in the last ten years is the “All Appropriate Inquiry” (AAI) Rules which dictate the level of scrutiny a prospective real property purchaser must undertake to protect itself from environmental liability due to pre-existing contamination on the property.  Since 2005, U.S. EPA had made it perfectly clear how the AAI Rules could be satisfied.  However, in a recent and somewhat bizarre rulemaking action, EPA has left purchasers wondering what really constitutes “all appropriate inquiry.”  The problem stems from EPA’s attempt to finalize changes to its AAI Rules which ties AAI compliance to another standard that has yet to be issued by a separate non-governmental entity. 

The scenario of a developer who paid cash for a parcel of land and wants to get started on development and construction prior to the closing of the construction loan is fairly common.  However, under Ohio law a pre-start construction project creates difficulties for the title insurance underwriter to insure the priority of the mortgage over mechanic’s lien risk.  This is likely to result in more time and costs to provide the required title insurance and if not handled properly, it could jeopardize the financing for the project.