Found a Fannie property I want, possible"Meth Lab"

[Dustin Palls]

I found a great deal on a Fannie Mae property. I am concerned because both neighbors mentioned "there were lots of drugs done in there" when I visited the property. All of which is speculation, so I decided to contact the local police. When I had given them the address their faces lit up. I was told that officially no busts/incidents/police reports involving the property in question exist. BUT I was also told that given the fact that both of the police officers to whom I had spoke knew of the previous owner and the company they kept (small town), that there is a "good chance" meth was used in the home.

What do I do with this information? Am I legally responsible if I rehab the house and rent it and someone gets sick? Do I ask for a test to be conducted prior to closing? If so and the test comes back hot, the state will then be involved... regulatory issues galore. The meth abatement could quite possibly bring rise to an asbestos abatement (old home)... which would in effect make this property worthless to me.

I HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF RENTING THE HOME UNTIL I AM CERTAIN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO.

What I can't wrap my head around is the following:

1. I can most certainly perform all of the "clean up" that an abatement company would, without being regulated by the state, for a 10th of the price. (I have the necessary skills to do so, SAFELY). 

2. I have no definitive legal proof that meth was ever even in the house.

3. If I had the house tested post-rehab and everything came back clean, wouldn't it all be the same in the end anyway, i.e. the house will have been abated/cleaned up and safe to live in?

Obviously I don't want anyone to live and work in an unsafe house, but could someone with experience here tell me to what extent these so-called "Meth-Labs" are "cleaned up"? I would like to purchase, THOROUGHLY decontaminate just to be safe, rehab, test and then rent. The only issue I see here is if for some reason it doesn't pass the test post-rehab, I will then have wasted a considerable amount of money as the liability/ethical issues surrounding its rental or sale would be too great to assume.

Any advice here is greatly appreciated!

Dustin