environmental searches only came in 2001..

Deals_2

so if anyone has bought before this time and are near contaminated or potential contaminated or on or near landfills then the council is saying you cannot do anything. sounds absolutely ridiculous. can someone enlighten me? thanks in advance.

Richard_Webster

They keep thinking up new searches and we end up having to do them.

In a lot of cases people have lived for years near some landfill or whatever and have not suffered as a result but a buyer's fear as a result of the information coming out on a search is a problem.

Personally I sometimes wish I owned the database of some manufacturer/wholesaler of an important constituent element in houses, e.g. roof tiles. If it then came to light that if you lived in a house with X company's roof tiles you would be Y% more likely to suffer from some dreaded ailment then I could make some money by providing a search facility to enable buyers to establish whether or not the house they were buying had these tiles...there would be a website explaining all about the dreaded ailment and how it was caused and how the solution was to pay only £Z for a search which would show if the house actually had the tiles or a cheaper search that would tell you whether the house was one built by a builder who was a customer of the supplier but may or may not have used the tiles on the particular house..or pay £Q for an insurance policy instead/as well...

This is all fiction of course, but one is bound to be a little cynical. Trouble is that because these searches are available now clients buying properties will want to know, or rather they might not be bothered when they bought, but would be might cross if they found out later and discovered, unlike OP, that a search was available when they bought but wasn't done. That's the solicitor's problem.