Radon!

gundo

I am in the process of buying a property and the "Landmark" environmental search has said it's a "Radon Affected Property", to quote:

"The property is in a radon affected area, as between 1 and 3% of homes are above the action level"

Do I need to worry about this? I know someone who lives very close to the property I'm buying and they've been there for decades and their house doesn't have any Radon remediation.

I know I could ask for the seller to do the 10 day test but it seems to me unlikely they'll then agree, if it says it's high to then set aside a lump sum for me to do a 3 month Radon test and then do any radon remediation work if necessary...

Also I had my offer accepted shortly after Easter and my house is sold subject to contract with a completion date before the end of this month. So the additional delay is a headache. Shortsighted I know but I don't want to lose my buyers and I want to move.

bouicca21

This came up on my purchase last year in what used to be north west kent and is now London suburbia. Very similar odds.

It is possible to ask for a retention against a need to remediate but at those odds I suspect you'd be laughed at.

I went ahead. The soil is clearly clay, not sticky nasty London clay but clay all the same and I figured the problem would be on a chalky soil. Once I moved in I did a radon test - takes a couple of months, costs if I remember rightly, about £35. Came up clear.

If you need to remediate I think the cost would depend on the nature of the building. Some of the remediation measures are quite straightforward.

Melaniep101

We had exactly the same issue with the property we are buying - it was apparently in a Radon area and hadn't been tested by the current owners. A condition of our mortgage was that we investigated further, so we went to this site and purchased a report:

http://www.ukradon.org

This seemed to satisfy the conditions of our mortgage. There's lots of info on there.

Hope that helps

Chanes

It came up on our survey too! But it was so low and instance it seemed crazy. Further, testing for it is quite cheap (if long winded) and it is treatable by ventilation as I remember. It did not put me off the house, the TPO's did that.

moneyistooshorttomention

Speaking personally - and I have recently moved from a "Radon area" - I wouldn't bother to think about it for more than 60 seconds personally.

I've never yet heard of anyone having a problem with this.

I had a radon test done on my last house some years back (ie back whilst it was still free to have done) and it came up with a verdict that basically went "Not a problem". That was done, in advance, for the era in which people might be bothered and/or the test might get charged for.

I honestly don't think its a problem in the slightest.
and I'm a pretty ultra-cautious type of person.

gundo

Melaniep101 wrote: »

We had exactly the same issue with the property we are buying - it was apparently in a Radon area and hadn't been tested by the current owners. A condition of our mortgage was that we investigated further, so we went to this site and purchased a report:

http://www.ukradon.org

This seemed to satisfy the conditions of our mortgage. There's lots of info on there.

Hope that helps

Thank you so much! I hadn't bothered getting a report as I assumed the environmental search would have used the same data. But in fact the above official website said there's no risk. I am over the moon!

:T