I'm in the process of buying a house thats part of a development of around 40 houses built about 14 years ago on land which was formerly a factory. The searches have come back and the environmental search has failed saying that they cannot find information about what the factory did so they cannot issue a certificate to say that the land is safe! This puts our whole sale in jeopardy as far as i see it and i dont think i would want to buy it knowing that someone who comes to buy it from us in the future will have the same scary conclusions thrust upon them.

Obviously the land *is* safe as they got permission etc to build houses on it, but surely they must have access to details from when the houses were built etc?

I'm a bit unsure what to do next! Has anyone else come across this kind of situation and what did you do?

Thanks!
James

Surely somebody must know what kind of factory it was, if it was only i4 years ago! why not ask around the neighbourhood, or go check the local library for a Local History Collection. there must still be ratebooks from that period in existence.

Hello wizzer

Conducting environmental searches has now become the norm for many solicitors on behalf of buyers and their lenders. If the search has failed then essentially the search provider is saying that the level of risk identified in the report is such that they are unable to certify that the land would not be classed as 'contaminated land'. Where land is classed as such then there is the possibility that a remediation notice may be issued. The notice is issued first against the original polluter (known as a 'class A' person). If that person cannot be located (and in your situation that may be likely if the factory was demolished many years ago) then the notice is served against the owner or occupier of the land (known as a 'class B' person). That person would then be responsible for the clean up costs of the land and that figure can be anywhere from hundreds, to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Your solicitor should make further enquiries of the local authority to establish whether they are aware of any contamination of the land and whether they have made any inspection of the soil or measured gas leakage. Any replies received should then be forwarded to the search provider as they may then be willing to amend their certificate to a positive result.

Also, do not assume that because planning permission was granted the land will be safe. Although recently local authorities have begun to give permission on the condition that an environmental impact assessment is conducted and remedial measures taken, this has not been so in the past.

There is also the possibility of obtaining an insurance policy (indemnity insurance) which will mean a one-off payment and the policy can then be passed on to successive purchasers. This should be paid for by the sellers.

Your solicitor should also raise the issue with your lender to seek their permission to proceed. Some lenders are not concerned at all about environmental matters and some take it so seriously that they will not lend at all.

You need to find out what sort of factory was on the land 14 years ago. Best way is to ask in local shops, post office, local council offices or even if you are feeling brave knock a few doors.

Sounds like good advice from TommyP.

My friend has lived on a Bryants estate for over 20 years it was about 10 years old when she bought.
They have found high levels of arsenic and cadium on the land and she is awaiting all the garden having the soil replaced.No one on her estate has been able to move for years because of this blight and she is very glad she never grew vegetables but her kids grew up playng in the garden.

I seem to remember that some years ago there was going to be a register of all brownfield land and contaminated land, so that people could find out.

It got so far and then was quietly dropped....I think it was realised that land has been used and re-used over the centuries for all sorts of trades and industries and virtually nowhere is 100% pure if you go back far enough.

quote:

Obviously the land *is* safe as they got permission etc to build houses on it, but surely they must have access to details from when the houses were built etc?

I'm a bit unsure what to do next!
Thanks!
James

Don't assume the land is safe because planning permission was given. Contamination reporting has only been part of the planning process for the last 5 years or so, with phase 1 and 2 environmental reports now being required for all applications on brownfield land.

I'm involved with an ex railway site which was 'cleaned up' in the late 1980s. We have undertaken full investigations and the site has high levels of copper, arsenic and lead with some elemnets of landfill and possible methane gas. So the clean up was very basic!

You need to look at old maps of the site - libraries have copies of them and they often tell you what the factory was.

If I was in your position I'd be leaving well alone. All it needs is for someone in a few years to undertake a proper investigation, find something dodgy and you will potentially have an expensive problem on your hands and a prperty which can't be sold.

If you really want the house you need to instruct an environmental surveyor to test for contamination.

14 years is not a long time ago and it beggers belief no-one can find out what sort of factory was on the site!

There is/will be a development happening at the back of my house which is being held up because the ground needs decontaminating. This part of the process seems to be dragging on as different agencies are dragging their heels - or maybe they are overwhelmed with requests.

Don't want to scare you but ... I worked in the offices of a developer who were quietly demolishing a whole housing estate they had built about 5 years previously as it was found the land was so highly contaminated houses should never have been built. Owners were paid over the odds to sell their houses and keep quiet! Mistakes do happen.

quote:

Surely somebody must know what kind of factory it was, if it was only i4 years ago!

quote:

14 years is not a long time ago and it beggers belief no-one can find out what sort of factory was on the site!!

The original poster only says that the houses were built 14 years ago - the factory could have been derelict / knocked down a long time before that.

Even so, the land at the back of me was a brickworks that was redeveloped in about 1902. The real damage was done by material used as backfill in the 1960s - it is all documented!

By the way, the environmental report itself will state the use to which the factory was put- hence the risk.

If you have not done so already, ask for a copy of the report.

quote:

Originally posted by wizzer:
I'm in the process of buying a house thats part of a development of around 40 houses built about 14 years ago on land which was formerly a factory. The searches have come back and the environmental search has failed saying that they cannot find information about what the factory did so they cannot issue a certificate to say that the land is safe! This puts our whole sale in jeopardy as far as i see it and i dont think i would want to buy it knowing that someone who comes to buy it from us in the future will have the same scary conclusions thrust upon them.

Obviously the land *is* safe as they got permission etc to build houses on it, but surely they must have access to details from when the houses were built etc?

I'm a bit unsure what to do next! Has anyone else come across this kind of situation and what did you do?

Thanks!
James

Houses just a few hundred metres away from me have recently been discovered to have been built on contaminated land (it was an oil storage depot). Someone trying to sell their house lost the sale because the survey said the garden was contaminated with oil. This estate was built approx 18 years ago and at the time was obviously granted planning permission for houses to be built.

I agree with Liz its worth a try to find out from some of the elderly locals/historians , what the factory was and what went on. Theres usually a chatty old boy in the corner seat of every pub, or get in touch with a local over 60's T pot gathering or something and see if the older ones can tell you anything. Even if theres no local history group, the majority of senior citizens will be only too pleased to tell you their memories of a place.
There is a new large housing estate near where one of my relative lives .Thats built on an ex factory site, some sort of bricks come aggregates type thing . Far as I know the searches must have come up ok because all th houses got sold . However, talk to the old men of the village, and they tell horror stories of when they worked in the area, of vast pits the size of detached houses, which over time were filled with all kinds of dangerous chemicals and substances including asbestos , all carried out on the QT and therefore never appearing on any official documents/searches.No doubt this may rear its head in the future if things work to the surface or build up below.
So -point is, planning permission doesnt automatically mean land is safe; hence none of the locals in the know have bought these houses, theyvemostly been snapped up by those out of town.Whatever searches say, sometimes local knowledge is more telling.

Indeed. talk to the locals. take a picture of the site and post a note in the local paper. There's always someone who can remember what used to be on an old Site.

Also, so not assume the place is safe just because the house was allowed to be built. Even nowadays, houses get built on retrospectively dodgy plots.

Do not buy it unless you can prove that it is safe - to yourself as much to your future purchasers.

Ary.

Hi...How did you get on with the house you were buying???
Just found out from my solicitors today that we have the same problem with the house we are about to purchase.. It has been built on ex Industial land 32 yrs ago.. search has come back but is not clear as to whether contaminated or not... do not know what to do now!!