If a property you’re thinking of purchasing is known to have been used for commercial or industrial purposes, is entered in one of the registries referred to above, or shows any other sign of possible contamination, you should carefully consider the risks involved. As you cannot claim ignorance later on, you should try to include a clause in the purchase agreement that protects you against undue liability, or that reduces the purchase price by the amount of the estimated site cleanup costs. It is also absolutely essential that you seek professional legal advice in such a case.

Thus caveat emptor is a principle that should be scrupulously observed in connection with real estate purchases.