ᐅ Waste Deposits on Property

Hello everyone,

We are about to purchase a plot of land. Some people apparently dumped their garbage there, but we were aware of that beforehand. It’s not excessive, so it didn’t really bother us.

However, we have now found roofing felt containing tar and an old broken oil barrel, as well as a container with white powder. Before finalizing the purchase, we obviously want to make sure the soil is clean and free of any contamination. The owner is willing to cover the costs of a contamination assessment.

If the inspector confirms the soil is clean, can I really assume the soil is truly uncontaminated? How does this process work? Do you have any experience with this? He said he will examine the entire plot and send suspicious samples to a laboratory for detailed analysis to find out what might be hidden in case of potential issues.

What do you think? What if he says everything is fine, but in, for example, three years something is discovered? Can I then rely on the report to reject any claims against me?

Of course, no plot of land can offer 1000% certainty.

sauerpeter

Sold as seen or as described in the purchase agreement.
If something is discovered later, it should probably be your problem – no seller will take liability for it.
You can’t expect more than a proper environmental assessment report, no matter where you buy – that’s just how it is.

I wasn’t referring to the current owners, but to the person who conducted the environmental assessment. Of course, the owners cannot be held accountable anymore.

However, I’m not sure how such a contaminated land assessment is carried out. I really want to be sure that the soil is clean. If the assessor says “the soil is clean,” can I hold them responsible later if there actually is contamination? I don’t think so, right? Because then they could just say, “Everything was fine at that time.” Although nowadays, it should be possible to determine how long contaminants have been in the soil.

You said it yourself. If you can provide continuous proof (for example, 4 years of uninterrupted video surveillance) that neither you nor anyone else has caused new loads on the property, you might be able to get the expert involved—with a lot of luck (by the way, they get paid quite well for that). Since you cannot provide this continuous evidence, you are simply out of luck.

Good day,

sauerpeter schrieb:

If the inspector confirms that the ground is clean, can I really assume that the ground is actually clean?

What other purpose would there be, if not to obtain a reliable statement?

sauerpeter schrieb:

What if they say everything is fine, but after, say, 3 years something is found?
Can I then rely on the report and reject all claims against me?

What would be the situation then?

If the inspector has made verifiably false statements regarding possible contamination of the site in their report, they are also liable for it.

Make sure the report is included in the purchase contract and that’s that.

Best regards, Bauexperte

So, let me explain again:

The expert is now preparing a report. In this report, they confirm, for example, that the site is free of contamination and that the soil is clean. Since I don’t know how such things are verified, my question is whether, after the report is completed, one can truly assume that the soil is clean, or if there is always some residual risk because it cannot be checked 100%.

Let’s assume, then, that the site is free of contamination and the soil is clean. But if, after a few years, traces of substances like gasoline or oil are found, can I hold the expert responsible because they confirmed and assessed the site’s contamination-free status and soil cleanliness at that time?

I hope my concern is clearer now.
But that’s a good point about including the expert’s report, if satisfactory, in the purchase contract (deed of sale) through the notary.
Thanks for that!