Remediation

Our Remediation Contribution

Legal details of Groundsure’s Remediation Contribution, which applies to the contaminated land sections in Groundsure’s residential reports, are found below:

Remediation

This report is covered by Groundsure’s remediation contribution. For the purpose of this condition, ‘Claimant’ shall mean one of: (a) the Beneficiary, (b) the purchaser of the site from the Beneficiary or (c) the funder of (a) or (b) as applicable.

This condition shall apply solely to Groundsure residential reports that contain a contaminated land assessment with “Passed” rather than “Action Required”.

“Groundsure may, at its sole discretion without any admission of liability, make a contribution to the Claimant towards the costs of any clean up works required to be carried out under a notice served on a Claimant in respect of a site under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“Remediation Notice”) on the terms of this condition (“Clean up Award”).

The Clean up Award: (a) is only available once in respect of a site and to one Claimant only; (b) shall only apply where the site is a single residential dwelling house or a single residential flat within a block of flats. For the avoidance of doubt, a Clean up Award will not be considered in respect of commercial property or to any site being developed or redeveloped whether for residential purposes or otherwise; and (c) shall only apply to contamination or a pollution occurring as at or prior to the date of Groundsure residential report.

The Clean up Award will not be paid in respect of any of the following, including without limitation: (a) asbestos; (b) radioactive contamination arising directly or indirectly from or in connection with ionising radiations or contamination by radioactivity from any nuclear waste or fuel; from the combustion of nuclear fuel or the radioactive toxic explosive or other hazardous properties of any explosive nuclear assembly or nuclear component thereof; (c) naturally occurring materials or their removal except where such materials are present in excess of their natural concentration; (d) any condition caused by acts of war or an act of terrorism;(e) any condition which is known or ought reasonably to have been known to the Claimant prior to the purchase of Groundsure residential report; (f) non-compliance by the Claimant or any other person with respect to the site with any statute, regulation, byelaws complaint, or notice from any regulatory authority; (g) any property belonging to or in the custody or control of the Claimant which does not form a fixed part of the site or the Structure; (h)any losses incurred following a material change in use of, alteration or development of the site; or (i) financial loss in respect of loss of rental, profit, revenue, savings, business or any consequential, indirect or economic loss, damages or expenses, including the cost of temporary accommodation or business interruption.

In the event the Claimant wishes to apply for a Clean up Award, it shall notify Groundsure in writing within 3 months of the date of the Remediation Notice. The Claimant shall comply with all reasonable requirements of Groundsure with regard to the commission and conduct of the clean up works to be carried out under the Remediation Notice. In the event that the Claimant breaches this provision including, without limitation, failing to obtain Groundsure’s prior written consent in respect of estimates for such works Groundsure shall not be required to pay a Clean up Award.

Groundsure shall only pay a Clean up Award where a Remediation Notice is served within 36 months of the date of Groundsure residential report. The maximum sum of any Clean up Award shall be £60,000 and shall be paid subject to the Claimant having paid to Groundsure an excess in respect of its claim of £5,000. Groundsure reserves the right at any time to withdraw the offer of payment of a Clean up Award.

The Claimant shall take all reasonable steps to appeal such Remediation Notice and mitigate any costs incurred in connection with the remediation works required under the terms of any

Remediation Notice. Groundsure reserves the right to withhold or reduce the amount of its Clean up Award in the event of a breach of this condition or an appeal is still active.

This report is designed for residential conveyancers and their clients and satisfies standard environmental due diligence enquiries, recommended by the Law Society. This information is not always covered in Standard Con 29 Enquiries made to Local Authorities.

Purpose of this Assessment

As part of this report Groundsure provides a professional assessment of the risks posed by key environmental information that could have the potential to lead to the property being designated as ‘Contaminated Land’ as defined under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This assessment is based on the following data:

1 Historical land use (compiled from 1:10,000 & 1:10,560 maps)

2 Additional information on historical land use (compiled from 1:1,250 1:2,500 maps) – for

selected areas.

3 Landfill and waste transfer/treatment or disposal sites (including scrap yards)

4 Current industrial uses (as defined by PointX data)

5 Catalist registered Petrol Stations

6 Part A(1), Part A(2) and Part B Authorisations

7 Control of Major Accident Hazards Sites (COMAH) and Notification of Installations Handling

Hazardous Substances (NIHHS)

8 Dangerous Substances Inventory Releases (DSI)

9 Radioactive Substance Authorisations (RAS)

10 Discharge and Red List Discharge Consent

11 Sites Determined as Contaminated Land under Part 2A EPA 1990

12 Environment Agency Recorded Pollution Incidents

13 Historic Military / Ordnance Sites

14 Planning Hazardous Substance Consents

From this information Groundsure provides a statement regarding the likely designation of the property under Part 2A of EPA 1990. The level of risk associated with the property is assessed as either Passed or Action Required. If the site is Action Required it does not necessarily mean that the site is unsuitable for purchase, but only that further assessment of the risk associated with the site is required. When a site is Action Required then the practitioner may, if required, discuss the case with one of the Groundsure consultants. Where a site is ‘Action Required’ Groundsure will, on request, attempt to arrange appropriate environmental insurance.

Method Statement

In assessing specific site risk, Groundsure follows principles used extensively throughout the environmental consultancy sector. Our system looks at the potential for specific industries to have generated residual contamination and for this contamination to remain at a site, or to have migrated to neighbouring sites. Sites are scored based on this system and if a site scores highly it indicates a high level of risk.

Limitations of the Study

This screening process reviews historical maps and a range of current databases. The historical land use database reviewed for this study does NOT include 1:2,500 or 1:1,250 scale maps except for Groundsure’s additional information database of selected features namely tanks, energy features, petrol filling stations and garages. This additional information database covers the majority of the UK, but not all. Where 1:2500 or 1:1250 scale maps are utilised all relevant and available map epochs to Groundsure are used. Additionally, this review does NOT include specific enquiries to the Local Authority who may hold additional information and it does NOT include a site visit/inspection. Your attention is drawn to the Terms and Conditions of Groundsure Limited under which this service is provided.