House built 25 meters from landfill site epicentre

NOVASTAR

EEk - my other half and I have just received the Environmental Search back about a house that we have an offer accepted on. It is built 25 meters from the epicentre of a landfill site - the landfill site in question was the household (and we presume TRADE tip for the area) before it relocated some 30+ years ago.
The development in question was built 12 years ago ....
What would you do in the same position?

Gorgeous_George

I'd plant six rows of potatoes and buy a metal detector.



OTOH, I'd walk away. The risk may be small but is that reflected in the price and do you want to take that risk?

GG

Doozergirl

If it's pretty modern then the likelyhood is that any risk would have been dealt with. I would call and ask to speak to the contaminated land officer at your local council - I did that last week regarding a property I was looking at and the man was pretty helpful. He basically said that they are in the process of assessing all landfill sites (1800 in our area) so they don't know absolutely for certain, but that they have no known instances of 'contaminated land' across the entire borough.

Mother In law lives by an old quarry, the corner of house at the beginning of the street did indeed subside because they guessed it wrong :eek: (it did happen pretty quickly - I doubt yours will sink after 12 years!) - the actual landfill area is a lovely green where the children play.

Do a bit more research, I say.

SquatNow

Has environmental protection and safety work been done... specifically, gas/vapour sensors etc.

NOVASTAR

Thank you for all your input.
I have looked into this a bit more and the edge of the landfill site is 25 meters from the back of the house - lovely views though as nothing built on the actual old landfill!
There are 2 things that concern me - there seems to be a contaminated waste area running from beyond the back garden fence and obviously there is the re-sell value up in the future.
Provision has been made for letting the gases out by way of a pipe running beneath the main road at the end of our cul-de-sac and vents.
As we are part of a modern developement which building is still ongoing ... our house was one of the first phases some 12 years ago.
I think that my OH and I are still going to go ahead with the purchase but want to get more info as to any complications that may have arisen in similar sited properties.