What happens if an old buried fuel tank is found on a cottage property and the seller says they didn't know about it?

If a seller genuinely didn't know about a buried fuel tank, the usual disclosure principle, which turns on a seller's actual knowledge of a hazardous condition, generally doesn't help the buyer recover costs from that seller, since there's no known condition that was concealed. Cottage properties are a common setting for this kind of surprise, since older cottages sometimes had fuel tanks installed decades ago by owners long since gone, with no records passed down through subsequent sales.

Once discovered, responsibility for dealing with the tank and any associated soil contamination generally falls to the current owner as a matter of Ontario's environmental framework, regardless of whose name was on title when it was installed or whether anyone currently involved knew about it. Whether the seller's claimed ignorance is actually credible is a separate factual question, particularly if there were visible clues, such as an old vent pipe or fill cap, that a careful pre-purchase inspection should have caught; a buyer who had reasonable opportunity to discover it may have limited recourse either way. This is why cottage buyers, especially of older properties, should specifically ask about heating history and have an inspector look for tank indicators before closing.