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New Radon Testing Standards?

By
Real Estate Agent with Team Lorenz

 

Have You Heard about the New Radon Testing Standards?

 

 

 

Things don't usually sneak up on me, but I have to admit this one really did. We've been under contract on a home for just under $600,000 and we got  radon test results back at 3.7 pCi per liter which is below the EPA recommended remediation level. I thought "That's cool, we are good." Much to my surprise the buyer said that we weren't good and that the World Health Organization has a standard of 2.7 pCi per liter whereby anything at that reading or above needs to be remediated. I went back to the EPA site and they even had a link over to the WHO site but didn't discuss the discrepancy between the two figures. Both organizations carry a lot of weight and our buyer insisted on using the WHO standard and asked for remediation to be done by the seller.

 

My question to this group is this: "Have any of you run into this WHO radon standard and how are you handling that?" When we spoke to the radon mitigator, he knew all about the new standard and indicated that it had been changed almost a year ago; again, very much to my surprise.  Does anybody out there have any inside information about whether or not the EPA is going to change their standard?

Perhaps in your part of the country radon tests are not important or not done very often. Out here in the Rocky Mountains and the West in general, there are many deposits of uranium which would certainly make us a bit more aware of the danger. I would say in the transactions that I am involved in, probably 80 to 90% of the people do radon testing. I'm also curious how that percentage may vary around the country. Thanks in advance for any help you can pass my way.

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Raymond Kennedy
Keller Williams Preferred Realty - Orland Park, IL

I was unaware of the separate standard from WHO of 2.7pCi. Thanks for the information on this, this is good to know. Radon has become a big deal and certain towns have a tendency to test at much higher level in my area, in many cases above 10 so it's something that normally needs to be dealt with regardless.

Thanks for the information, it is helpful to know this.

Dec 17, 2011 11:52 AM
Rick Lorenz
Team Lorenz - Durango, CO
REALTOR Emeritus, CRS, ABR, CyberStar, CNE, E-Pro

Raymond,

The other agent involved in our transaction was in our office. We have about 50 brokers in our office and we are going to discuss this subject at our next sales meeting.  We have started doing more home pre-inspectionsand perhaps this is something that we will recommend. Most of the radon inspectors here use the computer and leave it in the home for 48 hours. That is considered a short-term test and a little less reliable than the 90 day long term test. Perhaps we will start recommending that sellers immediately do the 90 day test as soon as we get the property listed since it is considered much more accurate.

Dec 18, 2011 05:28 AM
Anonymous
Keith Baicker

The US EPA is sticking to its guns and staying with 4.0 pCi/l as the standard in this country (for the time being).

Consequently, while the buyer may want to meet the WHO standard, I don't think they are entitled to it.  That being said, two things to consider: 1. If the contract is vague enough, the buyer may argue that WHO standards are not excluded and are therefore applicable. 2. In the current real estate market, the current seller could risk losing the deal if they don't fix the radon to the buyer's satisfaction...iis it worth losing the deal over this?  Then how long until there is another buyer?

 

Keith Baicker

Radiation Data

Dec 22, 2011 11:52 PM
#3
Anonymous
Bill Angell

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation that economically developed countries set reference (sometimes call action) levels at the equivalent of 2.7 pCi/L was released in September 2009.  I am a member of the WHO International Radon Project (IRP) that drafted the recommendation that WHO adopted.  The recommendation is based upon residential case-control studies of radon concentrations in the homes of lung cancer victims compared to non-lung cancer victims in North American, Europe, and China.  The current EPA 4 pCi/L threshold for action is based upon earlier studies of underground miners.  The new residential data has risk curves that parallel those from the miner studies but are slightly higher.

EPA's position is that the Agency's current recommendation that people with radon test results between 2 and 4 pCi/L consider taking action is not far different then the WHO recommendation.  For EPA to officially change its action level would require an extensive and expensive cost-effectiveness analysis that is very unlikely given the political and fiscal environment in Washington.

I would be happy to discuss the WHO recommendations and new parallel developments to home inspector or other related groups.

Best wishes,

Bill Angell

 

 

 

Dec 23, 2011 03:38 AM
#4
Rick Lorenz
Team Lorenz - Durango, CO
REALTOR Emeritus, CRS, ABR, CyberStar, CNE, E-Pro

Keith thank you for your comment.  In Colorado, the buyer gets to ask for repairs or remediation in the seller can either elect to have those repairs done and proceed to closing or refuse to do the repairs and then it's up to the buyer to decide if they want to stay in the deal or not.  There is no "entitled" for inspections, it is strictly done on a negotiated basis.  Often times the seller will "counter" the buyers inspection repair requests and eventually those items get settled.  It isn't very often, frankly, that we completely lose a deal over inspection issues.  Part of the reason is that once the seller knows of a "material defect", they would be obligated to tell the next buyer about that fact.

Dec 23, 2011 04:19 AM
Rick Lorenz
Team Lorenz - Durango, CO
REALTOR Emeritus, CRS, ABR, CyberStar, CNE, E-Pro

Bill thank you so much for writing.  Your information is very helpful.  I am going to share that with our office but I wonder if you would be willing to perhaps give a telephone or GoToMeeting presentation at one of our sales meetings?  I don't think I remember ever reading in the EPA documents that between 2 and 4 pCi per liter people should consider taking action.it's hard to have too much information on a subject as important as this.  Would you mind contacting me off list so I can get your contact information and pass it along to our sales manager.  Thanks again for your very helpful comments.

Dec 23, 2011 04:24 AM
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43+ years of successfully selling Durango Colorado real estate certainly qualifies me as having seen just about everything. There have been funny moments "What do you mean you're going to cash my earnest money check?" And there have been serious moments where we completed a short sale just hours before the foreclosure sale was to occur. My greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that we have the expertise and are able to help those people in what is usually the largest financial transaction of their life. One of our clients once said "We sure are glad that you were at the helm of the ship steering our transaction. A little gray hair behind the ears of the 'captain' sure made these passengers feel safer."

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