The best you would be able to get is a Letter of Environmental Protection, which tells everyone you did illegal work then hired a licensed deleader in to fix it.

@Kevin Mehner Some of the the best ways to find off market commercial and multifamily properties is to compile lists from city and county websites if available or through a paid service like List source, Reonomy and CoStar or you can use free resources like Loopnet, CREXI, Ten-X commercial, Craigslist, tax database, general networking, brokers, property managers, title companies, environmental consultants, building inspection companies, appraisers, landscapers and other companies that service commercial and multifamily properties and driving for dollars.

Hey BP,For Acquiring apartments, is it always required or strongly recommend to get ALTA survey and phase 1 environmental inspection?  

Environmental issues?

Here are a few: zoning, set backs, flood zones, utilities, environmental and geotech. 

You are in one of the top most sought after markets in the country so competition is fierce right now but you can still find opportunities.Here are some of the the best ways to find off market commercial and multifamily properties is to compile lists from city and county websites if available or through a paid service like List source, Reonomy and CoStar or you can use free resources like Loopnet, CREXI, Ten-X commercial, Craigslist, tax database, general networking, brokers, property managers, title companies, environmental consultants, building inspection companies, appraisers, landscapers and other companies that service commercial and multifamily properties and driving for dollars.

NIMBYs are against that, environmental and city infrastructure advocates are against that, and zoning restricts that too (although in CA there are efforts to override city zoning jurisdiction.)

You need to make sure environmental is clean especially with a mom and pop tenant and see per the lease who is guaranteeing to keep the site free from contamination and who will clean it up in the event of a spill etc.Mom and pop tenants the buyer pool is much smaller versus national or strong regional STNL so cap rate rises a lot on those small mom and pop deals and financing offered is high interest rate and short amortizations with lower LTV's typically.

The previous owners used a company called, "Technical Environmental Construction, Inc." to abandon the oil tank in place in 2001.

There were no upfront costs until a signed OTL was returned, and then a .25% "commitment fee and costs for appraisals/environmental/other expenses incurred (and the lender kicks back 1% of all those closing costs at consummation).