Williamtown RAAF base Contamination investigation area

I am looking at this property

2225 Nelson Bay Road Williamtown NSW 2318 - House for Sale #122882314 - realestate.com.au

Now I asked the agent to send me all the information about the property, but neither the ad nor the information the agent sent mentioned anything about the investigation area.
Considering people are having to drink RAAF supplied bottled water and not allowed to drink from bores and warned not allowed to touch chicken eggs or eat fruits and vegetables from the area I would have expected that a mention would have been made of the investigation area. Apparently many people in the area have 60 times the normal concentrations of contaminant in their blood. It's thought to be a cancer causing chemical. Surely this should be disclosed upfront?

So what is the situation here because I would have expected that in a regulated, honest country like Australia there would be no way that this could happen within the real estate governing regulation or laws?

Can I assume therefore that the property is not affected by the investigation despite the official map stating it is within or do I assume the agent has been living in a hole somewhere in the west Australian dessert and does not know about the investigation area?

Williamtown RAAF Base contamination | NSW EPA

 

Never assume anything. Ass U Me

Trust your DD.

 

It would be listed on the section 149 certificate included with the sale contract if it is a listed contaminated site. However the investigation area identified by the EPA is only that, it's an area that is being investigated to confirm whether the PFAS is present and whether it is at concentrations that would pose a significant threat of harm.

The current known exposure pathways for PFAS are via ingestion, either through oral exposure or bioaccumulation. This is why limits on consuming bore water or home grown vegetables has been applied around Williamtown, to be conservative until more is understood. It is also not confirmed whether PFAS is carcinogenic. Workers that were using and/or manufacturing PFAS have reported the incidence of cancer, however due to the relatively small numbers of workers that were exposed to high concentrations, the data set has a large scope for inaccuracies, hence the government being very conservative and limiting the potential for exposure.

Should the agent have disclosed it is within the investigation area, maybe. However houses are sold under high voltage powerlines or next to substations (also thought to be carinogenic), and that is not normally advertised. The same thing with properties next to service stations that have leaking storage tanks. As @Cactus said:

 

I would say the agent doesn't need to disclose unless known. You can only disclose what you know..

Further what about flood prone properties, powerlines, next to a graveyard, next to a garbage tip, if not what about built on a garbage tip? Yes there are places in Melbourne that used to be a garbage tip and houses now sell for 500k+. It is up the individuals to do their own DD and make their own decisions.

 

Well that's the convenient way to think about things and explains a lot. My take home message about this is the following.
The people around me are of the opinion that If you can screw your neighbour of his money whatever the cost, do so. If they are not aware of something that could kill them but you are, don't tell them if it's going to loose you money. It does not matter that they may have a painful and agonising death, preserving profits is more important than their problems. If something can be hidden in obfuscation or smart words not telling the real truth in order to protect your wealth at the cost of others do so.

Great place we are living in eh!

Sorry guys I won't sign my name under that. But you guys can keep your due diligence. I hope your due diligence keeps you safe in eternity. I am of the school that says one must do the right thing by another. Selling property that is contaminated even if not declared is something that should be stated up front. At least stating that it's in an investigation are is the right thing to do. If you guys cannot see that then there is something broken with your morality. A normal reaction would have been to have outrage. But good luck to you.

 

Do what you feel is best.

However what if the investigation comes back as a negative, now the vendor has lost money because of the stigma of it.

If there is something there I guess you can call it natural selection as I spend a lot longer than 5 minutes looking or researching a property before inspecting and even longer before buying. Even with this house in question if you are spending over 700k (as it sold for 755k in Dec 2015), wouldn't you question firstly why are they looking at selling so quickly after purchasing?

Just a quick google search shows up the investigation...



This is less than 5 minutes of research (or DD) and I am not looking at purchasing.

We all argue that the country is becoming a nanny state and yet people do not take responsibilities for their own actions (or lack of).

 

If you don't like the responces keep moving onto another forum and also go chain yourself to a tree out there. Or chain yourself to the agents bmw if have to
You had some very good answers given the subject

 

This was on ABC landline couple of weeks ago.
Williamtown

 

Even just typing Williamtown into google brings up something I would be concerned about...

 

We have the same issue at Raaf Edinburgh in Adelaide, my tenants near by don't care, the base has not been closed down due to future compensations, just don't drink the underground water, I bet lots of sites have some type of contamination that is not discovered yet