Records Required to be Filed and Kept
Police officers who make arrests at “clandestine lab sites” must notify the local health department, the duty officer, and child protection of the arrest and the location of the site. If the site is contaminated with any manufacturing products or byproducts of methamphetamine production, it cannot be occupied or used until it has been assessed and remediated according to Department of Health guidelines. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (c). The authority ordering cleanup (a county or local health department or sheriff) must also record with the county recorder or registrar of titles, in the county in which the property is located, an affidavit stating that the property had been used as a clandestine lab site and that some parts of the property may be unusable. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (h).
After the contractor verifies that the removal and remediation were properly completed, the authority that mandated the cleanup vacates its order. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (e). The owner of the property may also file an affidavit of remediation after the property has been cleaned up. The county recorder or registrar of titles must record all affidavits presented under paragraph (h) or (i) in a manner that assures their disclosure during a property title search. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (j).
The local community health administrator must maintain information about clandestine lab sites, including the name of the owner, location of the property, extent of the contamination, cleanup status, and whether the remediation order has been vacated. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (l).
If it obtains the certificate of title, the county or local health department or sheriff must also notify the registrar of motor vehicles of any vehicles contaminated with methamphetamine products. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (g). Vehicles contaminated by methamphetamine production must include a notation that the car is a “hazardous waste-contaminated vehicle” on the certificate of title. Minn. Stat. § 168A.05.
Other Requirements and Liabilities
Before signing an agreement to sell or transfer real property, the seller must disclose in writing to the buyer whether, to the seller’s knowledge, methamphetamine production has occurred on the property. If it has, the seller must produce a disclosure statement describing the status of any remediation orders or, if the property was used for methamphetamine manufacturing but no remediation order was ever made, the status of removal and remediation on the property. If the seller fails to do so, he or she may be liable to the buyer for cleanup costs and attorney fees. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 2 (m) and (n).
A person convicted of a drug crime may be ordered to pay restitution to any public entities that participated in an emergency response to the crime and to any individual property owners that incurred cleanup costs. Minn. Stat. § 152.0275, subd. 1.
The content of this post and any related posts has been copied or adopted from the Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department’s Information Brief, Methamphetamine Laws in Minnesota, written by legislative analyst Jeffrey Diebel and Research Assistant Dariel Weaver.
This is part of a series of posts on Methamphetamine (Meth) Laws in Minnesota.
