Mine-free land

Hello,

I wanted to have a soil sample taken on the property that we actually want to buy. At 2 out of 3 companies, I was told that the property must be free of explosive ordnance. This was the first time I heard about this. The property is located on the outskirts of Hamburg, so it does make sense. Therefore, I contacted hazard detection. They told me that if there is no assessment for the property yet, a new assessment must be made. For this, aerial images need to be compared or first purchased from the Americans/British. This can take up to 20 weeks.

I was completely taken aback because the planned start of construction is at the end of August and quite a bit of preparatory work still needs to be done by then. The 20 weeks really throws a wrench into my plans.

But I can hardly imagine that everyone building a house in the Hamburg area has their property checked for explosive ordnance.

In addition, the builder bears the costs. If something is found, only the search and digging are covered, not the defusing, but still, additional costs will arise for me.

Does anyone have experience with this topic or can give me advice on what I can do?

Thank you and best regards

corner

Hello,

I can hardly imagine that everyone who builds a house in the Hamburg area has the property checked for unexploded ordnance. In addition, the builder bears the costs for this. If something is found, then only for the search and digging and not for the defusing, but still there are additional costs for me.

This is the standard procedure nationwide; with the building application, a letter is sent to the responsible mining authority requesting information about possible unexploded ordnance or Roman shards, etc. Logically – if you are the owner of the property – you also have to bear the costs in case of an incident. If you look into the notary contract for the property, you should already find a corresponding clause regarding the procedure in case unexploded ordnance is possibly discovered, releasing the seller from liability.

Kind regards