h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

below is an extract of a posting I've just made to someone online.

"There's loads of problems with the new house we are/were going to buy. It failed it's environmental report. The people who did the report don't know what industry was on the land previously so don't know what potential contaminents are there. The council want money off us to find out what was there.

Also the house we selected has had to have remedial work done to it for radon and methane gas. No-one at the sales office told us that our property would have this specific problem. No-one at the sales office told us that there might be a problem with land contamination.

We've spent approx £2,000 before we've even exchanged. Looks like we're going to back out of the purchase."





As you can see...all is not well.

yus. Not touching with the proverbial 10 foot bargepole is to be advised methinks.

me thinks so too *sigh*

you could always put a "wendy tent" up in my back garden, for the time beingerr! grass needs cutting first

sounds like false advertising. I believe in the UK you have a trade standarrds organisation where you can report them. try to get your lost money back and may be a bit more. they millnot learn!

Hey VV, sorry to hear about that.

It's like our old house, that is the one we used to live in, is finally up for sale at 350,000 I think, somewhere around that price anyway.

The thing is it needs extensive work. The roof needs replacing, the windows need replacing and part of the roof needs shoring up as it's colapsing. The foundations need redoing as it has subsidance to such an extent that a crack runs from the front of the house through to the back. The electrics are shot to such an extent that they'd be illegal if you were charging rent, the central heating needs replacing, the wall in one room needs re plastering as most of the plaster fell off onto me while I was asleep one night and that's just what I can think up off the top of my head.

The estate agents have got a 'get out of jail free' card though as they've put on the advert that the usability of the house is not assured.

"might be a problem with land contamination"

Doubt that is rarely added "just in case".
Better to know now.


Radon is usually easily eliminated.
I do not know about methane.

Traveller in Time looking for another house
"Wellm ther would be some advantages, radon is a radio active gas, harvest it and you will never have to use electric lights. And methane, if sufficiently available, you can cook on it. "

We're looking for another house too.Our housesuffered subsidence some years ago,but it was all put right through the insurance,although we spent a lot of money ourselves.IF remedial work has taken place then whoever buys should be told about that by law now,before completing.
I think,under the circumstances you should be recompensed by the vendors vicki..i would look in to it

Radon is only a problem with modern houses, because the insulation and double glazing prevents it dissipating naturally into the air. Older style houses had enough cracks and gaps in them for it to not be a problem.
It was found to be a problem when they started bringing double glazing in to a wider audience in the 80s, and especially houses which are build over a granite bedrock. Where they had been OK before, once the double glazing went in it couldn;t dissipate as readily so built up.

More of a scare than a problem though.

"don't know what industry was on the land previously so don't know what potential contaminents are there"

That's the biggie. Because when you come to sell it you may know what was there or have found out. There was someone on telly recently payed for a new house and it was unsaleable due to contamination. COuldn;t let the kids in the garden and couldn't move. And the council, who had granted the planning permission for houses in the first place, said it was nothing to do with them.

But this is the problem witht he way planning and building is handled.

Apparently the house that we are/were (still not sure yet) has the relevant stuff to take the radon gas away. There is a cavity underneath the house with an extraction system in it to take it away into the atmosphere. So that's not a problem.

The house has also been built on a filled in sand pit. In otherwords, the sand has been removed and replaced with other substances by the builder.

I still wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

backfilled by the builder with undisclosed substance. Great. Who knows what metals, chemicals, poisons, etc might be in there?

I mean it is difficult once you've sunk money into it, I know.
But still, unless you know what is down there, you could face losing the entire valuee of the house. And that wouldn;t be good.

Plus if it has been filled, but not well, then you'll get subsidence.
Or at least landslip. Unless it has been built on a concrete raft like a lot of new houses are.

err! did Bob build it ??