Financial threats for homeowners in Dumfries and Galloway

Following on from last week’s report from Dumfries and Galloway Council, which identified a risk of contamination at 43 former industrial sites in Dumfries and Galloway; Landmark Information Group are warning that land contamination could in fact be the biggest financial threat to Scottish homeowners, potentially costing up to £250,000 per acre to remediate.

A council report today provided details of the “high risk” areas, some of which have already been redeveloped for housing. The report also estimated that the costs of carrying out full investigations and decontamination work could run to more than £8.5m.

According to Landmark Information Group, the UK’s leading provider of digital mapping and land data intelligence, currently 97%* of homeowners in Scotland are failing to carry out an environmental search before buying a new home.

Landmark warns that contaminated land is a serious issue that has been ignored for too long in Scotland. It advises Scottish homeowners that if they discover contaminated land underneath their home, it is not necessarily their solicitor or council who is responsible, but the homeowners themselves who could be forced to foot the bill.

Barry Love, Environmental Partner at leading Glasgow firm Semple Fraser Solicitors, comments: “Most people would be staggered to learn that environmental liabilities are not something that potential homebuyers would be told about by their solicitor when purchasing a home. The reality is that the buck stops with them and buyers could save themselves thousands of pounds by simply asking their solicitor for an environmental report.

“Simple due diligence on environmental issues from your Solicitor could ensure that you enjoy the safety and comfort of you home.”

James Sherwood-Rogers, Managing Director of Landmark Legal and Financial comments: “The best way to check if your property is affected is to get an environmental search carried out.

“Buyers need to insist that their solicitor provides them with a comprehensive environmental and planning report as part of the searches carried out before a property purchase.”

Research undertaken by Landmark indicates that in some parts of Scotland, as many as one in five residential properties have been built directly on top of potentially contaminated land. In Dumfries and Galloway over 24,000 residential properties – that’s almost 40% - are within 100 metres of potentially contaminated land. ***

Today’s report reveals that all of the “high risk” locations concerned once housed either gas works or tanneries. Dumfries and Galloway’s industrial past is well known to have comprised of tanning, milling, textiles, extraction and some processing of ores including lead, iron, copper and barytes, stone for construction processes, brick and tile manufacture and coal mining.

Homes built on former industrial sites are particularly at risk. Old industries such as, tanneries were used in the early 19th century to transform raw skin and hides into finished leather by treating the skins with agents, such as, arsenic sulphide and trivalent chromium. Toxic effluent and chemicals have leaked into the soil, leaving the land contaminated and residents initially faced remediation costs for the land to be cleared up.

The Scottish Executive has been able to help financially in many of these cases but where the original polluter cannot be found, ultimately the cost lies with the homeowner.

* Figure from Mr Barry Love, Semple Fraser Solicitors
** Taken from Landmark Data Index
*** Source: The Landmark Data Index – based on Potentially Contaminative Industrial Uses (Past Land Use – all classes).

For further information on Landmark Information Group visit Landmarkinfo.co.uk.