Environmental liabilities in the planned house - cost bearer???

Hello,

I am new here. A few weeks ago, we purchased a planned terraced house including the land from a property developer (fixed price). Now construction has started and it looks like contaminants (presumably tar) have been found under the land. Today we will probably receive the results of the soil samples.

Our question is therefore, what is the legal situation if contaminants are indeed present? The plot is the last gap in a larger new development built a few years ago. Originally, there was a brickyard on the site. There were no problems with contaminants at the other houses. Various trial drillings before construction began also revealed no relevant indications.

The current owner is still the developer; we already have a priority notice of conveyance registered in the land register. The notarial contract contains the note that "the parties were informed by the notary about owner liability regarding contaminants." However, to our knowledge, he did not elaborate on this, and currently the developer remains the owner until the final payment is made.

Finding the polluter will likely be difficult, as the developer purchased the land from an insolvency estate.

Our question therefore is, how are the costs handled? Does the developer have to pay for this because of the fixed price (soil removal must be done at his expense), or are contaminants a special case and is this problem ours?

Thank you very much for the answers!

Hello,

I would like to assume that unfortunately you drew the Axxxx card :(

Our question is therefore how the legal situation looks if there are actually contaminated sites? ... During various test drillings before the start of construction, no related indications were found. The current owner is still the developer; we have already registered a priority notice of conveyance in the land register. The notary contract contains the note that "the parties were informed by the notary about the owner's liability for contaminated sites." As far as we know, he did not elaborate on this, and at the moment, until the last installment is paid, the developer is still the owner.

Two things: at the notary appointment, the notary read the contract aloud and asked you if you understood everything. It should also have included a clause that relieves the transferor from any liability regarding contaminated sites/property. If you answered yes to this question without further inquiries to the notary, the first problem exists.

Every reputable seller informs potential builders about possible additional costs that may arise from a soil report. Are you 100% sure that the seller omitted this? You have to prove this omission to him, which will probably be quite difficult if no independent person was involved in the conversation.

Suggestion: calmly wait for the result of the geological soil report and then discuss options for damage limitation with the seller/developer. However, I think it will be purely a goodwill gesture if he participates in the costs of the necessary soil replacement.

Kind regards