Before you sign the paperwork on a new place, it’s smart to know about past residents and the home’s history—your new nest might have a sordid past that could hurt your family’s health. While home meth production has declined since 2004, the DEA reports that thousands of homes seized since then could still be contaminated.1 Plus, only 27 states require this information to be disclosed, and laws vary widely between each location.2
The worst part is, once purchased, the home is yours to clean. Local services and home inspectors often offer testing and cleaning, but the process can be expensive and cost thousands of dollars. Learn how to tell if your home was a meth house and what to do about it.