Responsibility of Seller or Buyer for past site contamination

HI.

I have a hypothetical query that have often wondered about for residential home purchases. In particular who is responsible (seller or buyer).

Imagine a case where a person purchases a property, and after one year he/she discovers some form of contamination in the backyard soil (eg broken lead pipes, or old fibro pieces, or old lead paint scrapings). For the sake of this example, the residential site is not on a government contamination list...its just a typical house in suburbia.

If the previous owner was also unaware of these issues, who is liable? is it the past seller or the new owner? I would suspect it is the new owner and is a case of "buyer beware" - but I would like some expert opinions.

 

I'm sure the scenario you describe is an actual reality for a number of properties. I would think it is the current owner's problem UNLESS you were able to prove a cover-up by the previous owner (difficult or near impossible) and even then launching legal proceedings would be cost prohibitive with no certainty of outcome. Google "material fact".

 

new owner takes the property as is usually. But that doesn't mean someone else isn't liable for contaminating the property.

 

Wouldn'tthat be picked up in a property inspection by a profession

 

Lots of places have the odd bit of fibrocement asbestos in the surrounding soil.

Impossible to notice during a normal inspection. And to be expected given the age of the house.

 

Thanks to all so far.
Terry.. Just to follow-up...what if neither previous owner or new ower were liable ( but the house could have had 5 owners in its life)... I mean the original "contaminator".. Could be deceased... Do you think it's the current owners issue still?

 

Current owner unless the previous owner guaranteed no contamination i would think

 

Who contaminated the land?

You could for negligence or breach of contract potentially. But the contract with the previous owner ended on completion.

 

This is a ticking time bomb/an extreme case.

Hunters Hill
Latest - SMH
Current - Govt Property NSW
History - background
Delays - Telegraph
Devil in the detail - SMH
2009 - News
Location - realestate.com.au

Still no clear solution to this problem.

 

Who contaminated the land?

You could for negligence or breach of contract potentially. But the contract with the previous owner ended on completion.


Hi All - just to be clear - this is all hypothetical...and has often crossed my mind...so no one has done anything!

Terry - What does breach of contract have to do with anything? we are talking about past owners and new owners (say 1+years after buying)

 

al

- Are you suggesting th breach of contract during sale? if so...then that;s not an issue in this instance.

 

I am not privy to the contract so don't know if they made any misrepresentations or not. You should seek legal advice.

 

Ok - Cheers for clarifying. Apologies if I was not clear...but this is assuming the sale had already taken place(say a year ago) between to parties - neither of them new about the issue. that was really it. It does sound like it is buyer beware...and if the buyer wanted...they could have tested the land before purchasing...granted this would never be done!