Buying on Infilled Land

princeofpounds

If the infill have been there for 50+ years, the likelihood of there being any serious problems is pretty remote, frankly. If the quarry/dump was infilled yesterday, with no test of time, then that's a different matter perhaps. The building having been in place for 15 years is a decent amount of time to detect signs of movement, but I'd prefer another decade or two of ageing.

Infilled land is a different situation to old mines where the voids are still present underground. Lots of properties are build on infilled land of various types around the world (such as land reclamation in the Netherlands, UAE or Hong Kong for example). I'm not saying it's zero risk, just trying to put it in perspective.

With a bit of research, you may be able to figure out where the quarry actually was. Quite often these searches are not pinpoint accuracy.

The most important fact is that it is mortgageable. That in itself is an important indicator of risk; mortgage companies are generally rather risk-averse and it clearly hasn't scared them off.

Probably the biggest risk is not the land itself at all, but the risk of finding it a hassle to sell when you want to move on for the same reasons you are pausing right now.

If you do decide to go ahead, make sure your and/or your freeholder's insurance is up to scratch.

BKD1972

princeofpounds wrote: »

Probably the biggest risk is not the land itself at all, but the risk of finding it a hassle to sell when you want to move on for the same reasons you are pausing right now.

Yes, this is my main concern. Resale.

davidmcn

If you can find the planning papers then there'll probably be further info about the ground conditions, any remediation carried out etc.

BKD1972

davidmcn wrote: »

If you can find the planning papers then there'll probably be further info about the ground conditions, any remediation carried out etc.

I’ve found the planning application. No documents attached to it . Should there be ?

BKD1972

Withdrawing from the purchase is a consideration. But, I don’t want to do that if the information provided isn’t accurate. Tough call.

davidmcn

BKD1972 wrote: »

I’ve found the planning application. No documents attached to it . Should there be ?

Depends on the council, but likely that it predates them putting all the supporting documents on the web. It should all be available if you visit the planning department. But it's recent enough for everyone to be alert to the risks of instability / contamination / methane etc, so the chances are it was all dealt with adequately during development.

BKD1972

One question I need to raise is why, if the property is on brownfield am I paying a yearly green belt charge

princeofpounds

BKD1972 wrote: »

One question I need to raise is why, if the property is on brownfield am I paying a yearly green belt charge

Despite sharing colour-based terminology, these things are not actually mutually exclusive.

Brownfield just means a site that was previously developed in some way.

Green belt is a designation mostly related to planning policy, which means an area where development is strictly controlled to preserve green space.

There are lots of brownfield sites in most (all?) green belts, as these were not virgin wildernesses before the green belt designations were created. They had quarries and farms and industrial sites and all sorts. Just less developed sites than in the town.

Now, having said that, I have no idea how your council (I presume) runs their green belt charge, so the criteria for paying it could be any kind of basis. So I'd still encourage you to understand the basis for that charge.

BKD1972

Btw, is it possible to dig deeper than the searches? Are there more detailed reports available?

BKD1972

How can I upload an image please?