Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

If you buy the building the problem becomes yours unless you make a provision in the sale agreement to deal with the issue. To the extent you did not own the building when prior tenants were exposed, you may attempt to shift liability to the former owner if you are sued by former tenants, but then you will have to pay for the expense of filing a cross-complaint for indemnity and contribution against the former owner, as well as defend against the claims of the former and probably current tenants, and you will have liability to the current tenants if there is any injury proved to have been caused by the asbestos. If you clean it up, now or later, you will have to pay significant sums for the clean up and will probably have to pay to relocate the tenants during the clean up, or evict them prior to starting the clean up (and maybe pay relocation expense anyway). I would suggest the best option is to have the current owner clean the property to the satisfaction of your contractor who is certified for asbestos removal, as a condition precedent to escrow closing, or if the current owner is unwilling to do so, then you should move on to find another property.