User-provided information in a Phase I report

This part of the report records what the user did and what the user told the environmental professional. The standard gives the user tasks of the user's own, requires the professional to ask for the results, and requires the report to say whether the user reported them.

What the standard requires

The professional asks. The user is the party seeking to use the practice (E1527-21, 3.2.94). The user is not required to hand the results of the user's tasks to the professional, but the professional shall request them (E1527-21, 6.1). The standard's appendixes are nonmandatory; one of them offers an optional user questionnaire (E1527-21, 6.1, X3).
The title search is the user's. The standard requires a search for environmental liens, and for activity and use limitations (AULs), on record against the subject property. The user may rely on title insurance documents or on a title search report; such a report shall cover land title records recorded from 1980 to the present (E1527-21, 6.2, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.2.1). Unless it is added to the scope of work, reviewing title records is not the professional's task (E1527-21, 6.2.3).
What the user considers and should pass on. The user must take specialized knowledge and commonly known or reasonably ascertainable information into account, and shall consider how the purchase price compares with fair market value. The user should communicate what is material to recognized environmental conditions, any lien or AUL actually known, and a belief that the price is lower because of contamination; the price itself need not be disclosed (E1527-21, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6). The first two should come before the site visit (E1527-21, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6).
The reason for the assessment. The user shall tell the professional why the assessment is wanted. If the user names no purpose, the professional shall assume it is to qualify for a landowner liability protection and state this in the report (E1527-21, 6.8).
What the report says. The report shall say whether the user reported information under the user's responsibilities (E1527-21, 7.3.2, 12.3). It shall describe whether the professional received the results of the lien and AUL search. The professional need only say whether land title records were received from the user, and whether any liens or AULs were identified by the user, and need not evaluate them (E1527-21, 6.2.3.2).
Where the user gave nothing. The professional should consider what the absence of the information means, with reference to the Conclusions (E1527-21, 6.1, 12.7).
Where the professional ran the lien search. If the user engaged the professional to make it, the date of that search shall be identified in the report (E1527-21, 4.6.1).

What the federal rule says

The rule puts these inquiries on the person seeking the protection or holding the grant, and makes handing them over a choice. Such persons

must conduct the inquiries listed in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(4) below and may provide the information associated with such inquiries to the environmental professional

40 CFR 312.22(a)

Of the professional's own inquiry it says:

the inquiry should take into account information provided to the environmental professional as a result of the additional inquiries

40 CFR 312.21(b)

The four inquiries are the lien search, the person's specialized knowledge or experience, how the purchase price compares with fair market value, and commonly known or reasonably ascertainable information (40 CFR 312.22(a)(1) to (4)). The rule says the person may provide the results; the standard says the user should, and that the professional shall ask (E1527-21, 6.1, 6.2.3.1). The rule says the standard's procedures may be used to comply with its sections 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11); the passages quoted above are in sections 312.21 and 312.22.

How it is written

The section takes the user's tasks in turn: the request made and when; what came back on each item; the title search, who made it, by which method, and whether liens or AULs were identified; the reason for the assessment, or the purpose assumed. What the user said is reported as the user's information. What the professional makes of it belongs in the Findings and Opinions.

Example, with the facts in brackets:

[The user] returned the user questionnaire on [the date]. The user [reported / did not report] specialized knowledge, [reported / did not report] a purchase price below fair market value, and gave [the reason] as the reason for this assessment. The user provided [the title document], dated [the date], which [identified / did not identify] environmental liens or activity and use limitations against the subject property.

Where nothing came back:

Example, with the facts in brackets:

We asked [the user] for the results of the user's inquiries on [the date] and again on [the date]. As of [the date], [the items] had not been provided. Land title records: [received or not]. Liens or activity and use limitations identified by the user: [yes, no or not stated]. We considered the absence of this information: [what it means for the conclusions].

What a reviewer checks

Does the report state whether the user reported information under the user's responsibilities (E1527-21, 7.3.2, 12.3)?
Does it say whether the professional received the results of the lien and AUL search, and whether the user identified any (E1527-21, 6.2.3.2)?
Where the user named no purpose, does the report state the purpose assumed (E1527-21, 6.8)?
Where the user did not provide the information, does the report show the professional considered what its absence means (E1527-21, 6.1)?
Where the professional made the lien search for the user, is its date in the report (E1527-21, 4.6.1)?

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.