I would be very grateful if anyone could give me any help or advice. By partner and I had an offer accepted on a house on Saturday and have now discovered from the Estate Agent that the land may be contaminated with arsenic and that a full investigation is being done by the District Council. The estate agent played it down saying that it's nothing to worry about. I have since spoken to the Council who have advised me that if the site is contaminated we may be liable to pay for costs associated with the clear up of the contaminated area which may run into thousands of pounds. The Council have said that their investigations should be complete in about a month's time. When I raised these concerns with the estate agent they advised us to get indemnity insurance through our solicitors and that this would cover any costs. Does anyone know anything about this? Or have any advice for me on how to proceed? We really love this house and dont want to lose it but of course dont want to run the risk of being handed a massive bill from the council.
Hi Jasonsgirl, I would have thought you'd be in a pretty strong position - other people are unlikely to go for the house with this problem with its unspecified costs, especially in the current market. Why should you pay for indemnity insurance for something that has come up after you made your offer? At least the vendors should pay for the cost of that. Good luck
Thanks rach_17, that's what we were thinking. We feel we are in a strong position, the vendors are pretty keen to move (now we know why!) and we are first time buyers. We just feel that we are being fobbed off by the estate agents. I have a meeting with our solicitors tonight so hopefully they will point me in the right direction. Thanks again
Dear Jasonsgirl, the EA is working for the vendors, not for you, remember, so even assuming he is honest, inevitably he will play down anything that might hinder the sale or reduce the price, and thus his commission. Do not rely on his advice in this.
behind every successful man is a disbelieving mother-in-law
Truly my field of expertise! What is the history of the site and where is it? Please tell me which council it is (i know most of them).
If you haven't purchased yet, you will not be liable for amy remedial costs. get this sorted before you exchange, make sure that any charges placed on the property are discharged upon the sale.
Interested in where to get insurance from for this sort of thing as it simply does not exist, period.
Also interested to know why you would want to run the risk of living on a contaminated site that could give you and your family a greater risk of cancer, but choose only to be concerned about a financial loss?
Sooner or later you will want to sell and move into another lovely house - but you won't be able to easily sell this one. I know of a similar house whereby the house was for sale for years, and eventually went for a silly price.
There are no bargains in real estate.
Not only that, if the council find that there is arsnic leaching out into a local watercourse - where does that leave you?
Regulations only get tighter regarding pollution.
The fact the sellers weren't up front about it indicates it may be more serious than you think.
Give it a miss, there are safer investments out there.
Presumably this house is in a street of houses all occupied by people that bought with the aid of a solicitor that did not take issue with the contaminated land issue. So why is it a problem for your solicitor now? Does this make the street unsaleable We have just had a similar problem. The property failed the environmental search but others in the same gated development continue to sell without any issue WHY? There is new legislation out within the last two years that suddenly makes clean land cleared prior to development, contaminated. I have two sales being held up at present on this issue and I think without justification as properties have sold readily up until now. One in fact is a third floor flat surely this is not attached to the contaminated ground! I have lost a third sale today as the buyer has withdrawn because he is nervous that he will struggle to sell his property despite his own solicitors assurances that with an indemnity policy there is no longer a problem. Hysteria is the word that comes to me on this topic
"The greatest trick the Devil played, was convincing us all that he did not exist"
Originally posted by immy21: Presumably this house is in a street of houses all occupied by people that bought with the aid of a solicitor that did not take issue with the contaminated land issue. So why is it a problem for your solicitor now? Does this make the street unsaleable We have just had a similar problem. The property failed the environmental search but others in the same gated development continue to sell without any issue WHY? There is new legislation out within the last two years that suddenly makes clean land cleared prior to development, contaminated. I have two sales being held up at present on this issue and I think without justification as properties have sold readily up until now. One in fact is a third floor flat surely this is not attached to the contaminated ground! I have lost a third sale today as the buyer has withdrawn because he is nervous that he will struggle to sell his property despite his own solicitors assurances that with an indemnity policy there is no longer a problem. Hysteria is the word that comes to me on this topic
Immy
There are NO insurance policies available for contaminated land, if you purchase a site which is subsequently found to be contaminated, then you can be legally liable for its clean up unless the original polluter is found and has the means to do it.
Some solicitors do not do complete due diligence checks as they should, for example online conveyancing firms. Sometimes issues come to light that were not known previously, so there may not have been any issues for other buyers to be aware of.
A leaseholder in a 3rd floor flat will accept as much liability for any contamination as the basement flat owner.
I'm not a salesman for it, just seen a demo. You highlight the property, it gives you a cost for preparing the report then you can decide to go ahead or not.
He showed us one example where houses had been built on a former timber treatment works - no site remediation had been undertaken before the houses were built and this was only in 1999!
Could be £30ish well spent. As you can see the report comes with £5m of indemnity cover.
Immy Quote - There is new legislation out within the last two years that suddenly makes clean land cleared prior to development, contaminated.
Immy,
The original poster has already said the land is contaminated with arsenic NOT just cleared land.
IMHO I would not touch it with a barge pole. The law is getting tighter and stricter and will only get more so in coming years. These agencies already have draconian powers and the last thing you want is them "retrospectively" deciding to have another look at your arsenic lake (!) in a couple of years time.
Theres too much good property out there to get involved with nonesense like this...leave it to the BTL'ers and find your dream house...less the arsenic of course!
Hi slater14 - thanks for your help. Sorry bit new at this what is BTL'ers? Do you think if we get complete clearance from the Council then we could still have problems later on?
Originally posted by Jasonsgirl: Sorry bit new at this what is BTL'ers?
Buy to let-ers. Those with big wads of cash to invest in property, who don't have to worry about surveys for mortgages like the rest of us (or having to live in it themselves!)
I feel I need to update you all on recent events regarding the house. I know you will all scream at me and tell me how stupid I have been but me and my partner have been looking for the perfect house for over 6 months and we LOVE this house. Last weekend we had a call from EA saying that they have had an offer - another £10k. They did take the property off the market after we had our offer accepted (we offered full asking price straight away - please don't scream at me) but the house was on the market at £10k more in january and they had an offer but it fell through cos the buyer couldnt sell their house. Now apparantly this couple have dropped a note through the EA door offering the full asking price as it was then (10k more than we offered). The EA said if we match the offer then the vendor would really like to sell to us and would take no further offers. So we did....we think the house is worth it (less the possible contamination issue) and if it was on at 10k more from the beginning we would have still offered it. God just writing it makes me feel like such a naive stupid first time buyer. We want this house so badly and are desperately trying to make it work. So now we are waiting for the contamination report to come back before we do anything more.
Ah I know what it is to be in love!!! Makes us do the daftest things doesn't it? Make your offer conditional on the land getting a clean bill of health following the council investigation. If the report is due in less than a month it's not long to wait. If you don't and the council findings are particularly adverse you may be stuck with a huge clean up bill and a house that no one will buy off you.
Oh thanks susiecam - that's just what I wanted to hear - I thought everyone was going to go mental at me!! I feel much better. Our offer is on condition of a clean bill of health, so fingers crossed. Thanks again
Incidentally Jasonsgirl, if the other buyers come back with an increased offer and your vendor dangles this in front of you to get you to increase yours I'd walk away from it. Your vendors have already shown that they are quite willing to encourage gazumping and in their position this is a dangerous game.
so how do developers buy land that is contaminated do they not do surveys??? The whole of London is contaminated! acid rain! Why is land that was previously clear, now contaminated. Please please some one tell me how land that has been cleared of all contaminates, is then built upon, can then become contaminated once more???????? Because that is what is happening in my part of town
"The greatest trick the Devil played, was convincing us all that he did not exist"
