Flats built on contaminated land

[Sunnypad]

Hi all
I am looking to buy a new home, cash purchase
I have viewed a newish flat in a small block built in 2014.
My research indicates this was built on contaminated land, which instantly rules it out for me.
Is this very common though? Are there reasons that this is okay?

There was a house there previously; it was demolished and the flats were built.
Thank you.

[Gaggsy]

There are, obviously, different levels of contamination. I would suggest that many 'brownfield' sites would have something.
However, there would be a regulatory requirement for a soil report and subsequent removal of contamination / remediation as part of the building process. This would be a requirement of planning / building control and the new block of flats would not be signed off without it.
Do you know what the contamination was?
I don't think it's something to worry about.

[robbelg]

A few years ago I observed building work on a former gasworks site. There were many months of soil being removed, soil piled up and chemicals spread and mixed in, holes dug and filled with water and chemicals new soil & hardcore brought in. It seemed like a pretty thorough job.

Rob

[Mike88]

If it helps, once I bought a rental flat on contaminated land but the level of contamination was low as the land in question was used previously as a vehicle dismantlers and transport depot. Such information is easily obtained from the relevant local authority who I believe maintain a register of contaminated land as well as information available from the planning department.

My rule of thumb, and that generally adopted by local authorities in the planning process, is that houses should not be built on heavily contaminated land but flats are OK as there are no gardens and plenty of hard landscaping. However, many such sites are lightly contaminated and there must be many thousands of properties built on contaminated land.

Whether you buy the flat is really up to you but I would do a little digging first in order to establish what the land was previously used for. The end result will depend on how you feel about what you are told.

For what it's worth when I came to sell the flat in 2006 there were no issues as regards searches etc but I do not know whether the law has changed since then.

Personally I would not be too concerned about buying a property on contaminated land as the planning and environmental requirements are so stringent the fact the land had a difficult history put me off.

[Imbiber]

Whether you buy the flat is really up to you but I would do a little digging first in order to establish what the land was previously used for. .

Excellent

[UncleEbenezer]

On the subject of degrees of contamination, bear in mind that the very act of building on land contaminates it. Something sterile and hard - like concrete - is locally pretty severe contamination.

[Sunnypad]

Thank you, that's really helpful