environmental search not passed

xxxnardixxx

Hi all

We ftb and purchasing a 11year old house. We in final stages and property has not passed that the land is free from contamination. Sol has sent us report and there was a steel factory near house we buying. Factory held waste licence until apr 1994. Type of waste industrial liquid sludge. The distance is 11.0 m. We not sure what to do now? Sol asking seller sol for documentation to assist obtaining passed search or an insurance policy. I personally not keen on insurance policy as i think when it comes to sell house it will be an issue for us. What would any of you do? Any comment will be helpful

casper_g

I would look elsewhere for a house, but this is because I enjoy gardening and wouldn't want to grow veg etc. on possibly contaminated land.

Putting that to one side, my attitude would depend on how long I planned to stay in the house.

If I viewed it as a home for the long term, or wanted to rent it out, I would go ahead with the purchase if and when the solicitor advised the issue was resolved satisfactorily.

If I might need to sell again in a few years, I would look for another house.

moneyistooshorttomention

I also grow food - so I wouldn't even consider a house like that.

Even if you aren't a gardener though - you would restrict your available pool of buyers if you buy it. This being due to the number of other people that will be gardeners and therefore wouldn't be prepared to buy the house on after you.

lessonlearned

I wouldn't entertain a house on contaminated land, not because I was worried about resale but for health reasons, even if I had no intention of gardening.........

Just as I would not buy a house near to electricity pylons or an electrical substation, chemical works or whatever.

Why risk your health......yes I know the jury is out on the pylon risk but why tempt fate if it is not necessary.

There will be plenty more houses to choose from, just walk away.

You pay for these searches for good reason, so if they do show up negatives then it's wise to take heed of the warnings.

If you intend to ignore the findings anyway then there's not much point in paying for them......;)

xxxnardixxx

Hi thanks for quick replies. We called estate agent and they said that they will send a copy of NHBC certificate to our solicitor. In the search report it asks that if a copy of NHBC is provided they will change the search to a pass. We hope that is the case as we might have to pull out and lose money we have paid so far.

HouseBuyer77

Is the house in the middle of nowhere or on an estate, or in a town? If it's reporting possible contamination purely based on the fact that something 11 miles away stored something nasty more than 20 years ago I'd presume the entire area has this problem. So everyone buying and selling houses around there would have the exact same problem.

If the market is slow that perhaps that's one of the reasons. If it isn't then you probably don't have anything to worry about, unless of course you are worried about the health aspect rather than purely the saleability.

Does it go into detail about the contamination and where the data came from? It seems a little tenuous given the distance involved to the old storage site.

moneyistooshorttomention

I read 11.0 m as 11 metres away (not 11 miles).

HouseBuyer77

Ah yes, whoops.

Still sounds like it was there a long while ago and again if there's lots of surrounding houses they will all have the same problem. Though as it was actually next door it does sound like an actual cause for concern health wise.

Certainly if you're interested in proceeding I'd get more information about the precise nature of the contamination.

GoldenShadow

I don't know much about this but it would make me rather wary. Largely because this isn't something you will know about until searches are done. I would worry when you come to sell that other FTBs may be put off and you could lose them based on something like this.

We were buying a house near pylons but the vendors told us they weren't live. Turns out they were, we pulled out as a result. Personally not too concerned re health worries but there is ongoing research still and I was really concerned about being able to sell it on further down the line.

marksoton

Environmental reports need to be read in context ( They rarely are.)

In my job we excavate to depths in excess of 20 metres, quite often our ground investigation reports come back with red flags that really shouldn't be.

The difference between truly inert land and " contaminated" can be so minimal it's ridiculous.

The fact the previous land owner held a waste licence means nothing in itself. Worst case scenario i'd ask for any previous WAC ( Waste acceptance criteria) reports. That'll tell you what's really going on.

xxxnardixxx

Hi

Its a new estate build in 2004. Next door got sold few months ago. The report says due to steel factory nearby , having waste licence, they havent issued a pass. The environment report sugests a certificate or buy insurance. I never thought id run into in issue like this. Everything was going very smooth up to this point. Thanks for all ur inputs. Really helps