Lack of environmental information is a problem for practitioners, says James Sherwood Rogers
Despite guidance from the Law Society and the accepted “best practice” of the vast majority of solicitors, there are still a number of homes that are sold without regard to the environmental risks.
From our experience, one of the key reasons for this is that a local solicitor has good knowledge of the local area. While this is true, risks from contamination can go back over 100 years or more. Old industries such as tanneries in the late 1800s used mercury for removing flesh from hides in large quantities which simply soaked into the ground. This historic mercury poisoning has led to remediation costing many thousands of pounds.
An environmental report uses historic mapping data to unearth potential risks that today are not so apparent. Recently, during one of our continuing professional development (CPD) seminars, we were able to demonstrate to one Stoke-based solicitor that a neighbouring street they thought they knew well had a hidden past, as a brickworks with a broad range of potential contamination risks, including arsenic.
