Buying a house built on site of ex-petro station

ikeby

Hi. Can anyone tell the implications of buying a house that was built about 30 years ago on land that used to be a petrol station.

I really like this particular village but the majority of properties are out of my price range. This particular house has been on market for about six months and a local was telling me the history of the land.

Thanks

AdrianC

ikeby wrote: »

Hi. Can anyone tell the implications of buying a house that was built about 30 years ago on land that used to be a petrol station.

Your solicitor will. Environmental searches are one of the things you're paying him for.

It's fairly safe to say that cleaning the land properly will have been a very intrinsic part of the development, though, and that a filling station doesn't necessarily imply heavy pollution - the risks are so high that they've been tightly controlled for a long while.

ACG

I honestly dont know the answer to your question, however about 3 years ago i used to work in Manchester city centre, i used to get the bus in and being the rebel that i am i sat on the top deck and could see work they were doing on a petrol station....

I used to pass the station which had closed down and the basically dug down about 20-30 possibly 40ft to take out the tanks. They still havnt filled it in, but it makes me think when a petrol station closes down it seems they basically excavate a fair old bit of land.

So if anything had been contaminated, chances are its been shifted somewhere else.

silvercar

Even 30 years ago there were rules on decommissioning petrol stations. Provided that was done properly there should be no problems now. I would expect that the local council required evidence of works at the time the building was approved - you can't hide something like this, unlike a house extension.

Propertyfan

Looking on the bright side, at least you'll get free petrol!

caeler

A developer built homes on the site of an old petrol station near me and I remember all the disruption because they had to remove the tank and decontaminate the land. I would imagine your solicitor will suggest you ask for evidence that all necessary steps have been taken to make sure the land is safe.

Propertyfan

Hmm... unless it's a 'must have' home I'd forget it and find a house on normal land. Not worth the hassle, perhaps. Why complicate matters by wanting to buy a property on (potentially) dodgy land. Forget it and find someplace else.

skivenov

My worry would be potential subsidence, I'd ask how the hole was filled in.

paddedjohn

If it was going to subside it would have done so by now 30 years later.

Davesnave

My friend's house used have a petrol station in the garden. Now, we sit out there in the evening and relax under what used to be the canopy over the pumps. The birds tweet, the bats swoop and conversation is inevitably harmonious.

We're always certain no one present will make any inflammatory remarks.



Edit: Seriously, the property I refer to was a village filling station and there are no implications I'm aware of.

DigForVictory

If you like the area, like the house and the surveys all come back with a clean bill of health, go for it! Just keep the surveys with a relative one county over in case?