95% of former dry cleaner sites have soil contamination but no disclosure to new tenants

Industry sources estimate that more than 95% of dry cleaners that have used perchloroethylene have some amount of soil or groundwater contamination, with average remediation costs exceeding $600,000 per site. PCE is 60% heavier than water, sinks through soil to the water table, and can contaminate groundwater plumes for decades. Despite this near-certainty of contamination, most states do not require environmental disclosure when a former dry cleaner property is sold or leased to a new commercial or residential tenant. This matters because new business owners lease former dry cleaner spaces (often affordable storefronts in strip malls), unknowingly inherit contamination liability, and can face cleanup costs of $500,000 to $1 million. The structural root cause is that dry cleaning contamination assessment is expensive ($15,000-$20,000 for Phase II testing), most small landlords never conduct it, and contamination disclosure requirements vary wildly by state with no federal standard for commercial real estate transactions.