03/08/2007
House Buyers Beware Flooding!
Torrential rain in and around both England and Wales has caused severe flooding across large areas. The dangers of flooding and issues such as landfill sites and contaminated land are regularly reported by the National Press.
Despite this the Environment Agency say nearly half of us who live in a flood-prone area are not aware of the risk, and only one in ten of us takes any action to prepare for such disruption and damage.
Before buying a house it is extremely important that you are aware of the potential risk of flooding or any other environmental problems that may affect your new home. You should ask your Solicitor to carry out an “Environmental Search” against the property .It takes approximately 24 hours and is produced in easy to understand language for domestic residential properties and indicates the likelihood of contaminative issues in and around the vicinity and whether they adversely effect the value of the property. The search will include details of any landfill sites, potential contaminative uses within a 500 metres radius, pollution issues, historical land use such as mining and potential subsidence, flooding, risk from radon gas and location of overhead transmission lines and telecommunication base stations.
It is potentially too costly to ignore as the approximate clean up cost for a contaminated residential garden can be up to £25,000 and the search costs a mere £44.65. A small price to pay for your peace of mind!!
Beth LappingFellow of the Institute of Legal ExecutivesWatkins and Gunn Property Team
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