Environmental Searches and Contaminated Land Issues

Monday 20th April 2009

There may be a risk to health, saleability or value if the land your house is built on or land in the vicinity is contaminated and these issues should be considered before committing yourself to any purchase.

Most home buyers will commission a survey of the property to ascertain its physical condition. However, buyers are often unaware that although the house they purchase may be in good condition, the land it is built on or land in the vicinity may not be. This can lead to an obligation to clean up the land.

The Law Society and Council of Mortgage Lenders recommend an Environmental Search following implementation of the Environmental Protection Act which specifically provides for the imposition of a financial liability on current owners of property in certain circumstances. If your land is found to be contaminated or polluted you could be required to "clean up" the land even though the contamination or pollution occurred many years ago. An example is where houses have been built on old industrial sites which are contaminated or built on land which has been infilled.

There is also growing public concern about environmental and contamination issues. We have all seen headlines reporting large scale flooding, subsidence problems, houses with landfill gas coming out from under them and the health risks associated with living on or near landfill sites.

Buying a house is for the most of us the biggest investment decision we will ever make. Disasters are rare but do happen and it is better to be safe than sorry with your most valuable asset. There may be a risk to health, saleability or value if the land the house is built on or the land in the vicinity is contaminated and these issues should be considered before committing yourself to the purchase.

The main risks are:

• a financial liability to clean up the polluted site may fall upon the current owner of the land;
• the property itself may be structurally unsound, hazardous to health, dangerous or otherwise uninhabitable; and

• the value of the property may be adversely affected by some perceived problem.

Environmental information is not only relevant within the boundary of the property itself, but also within the area around it. An Environmental Search Report will provide information up to 500m from the property. If the search reveals anything of concern, and in particular if anything is revealed within 25m of the property, you should then obtain further specialist advice from your surveyor or environmental expert and consider a site inspection or test. We as solicitors can draw your attention to the issues and risks but cannot advise you further as we are not qualified to do so. You must seek assurances from relevant experts before committing yourself to the purchase.

Ashfords LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The information in this note is intended to be general information about English law only and not comprehensive. It is not to be relied on as legal advice nor as an alternative to taking professional advice relating to specific circumstances.