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Environmental Search from solicitor

co-op said:
It looks like it depends which end of the road it is (assuming its Marchant Close) - so depends on how the property was categorised by whoever did the search. One end is "high risk", the other "very low", although the whole area is pretty low lying and liable to get cut off.

flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk

Check the long term flood risk for an area in England

How to check the long term flood risk for an area in England, assess risk from rivers and sea, surface water, reservoirs, ground water.
flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk
Click to expand...
I am no expert but that whole area looks like it was built on a marsh of some kind. I wonder what the history of the area is?
 
flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk

Check the long term flood risk for an area in England

How to check the long term flood risk for an area in England, assess risk from rivers and sea, surface water, reservoirs, ground water.
flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk
[/QUOTE]

Ignore "surface water flooding" i.e. if it rains very heavily and the drains don't work. Pretty much every street on level ground will be shaded in this computer model - zoom in on Hull for example.

What you really need to know about is "flooding from rivers and sea" - select this from the drop-down menu and zoom out, and you get a more useful picture.

Some stuff on recent floods in Beverly here, with info about flood prevention works: Beverley Flood Archives | HU17.net – It’s all about Beverley! Check what streets were flooded in these previous "Beverley floods" as they'll be the actual ones likely to flood in the future.
 
platinumsage said:
flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk

Check the long term flood risk for an area in England

How to check the long term flood risk for an area in England, assess risk from rivers and sea, surface water, reservoirs, ground water.
flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk
Click to expand...

Ignore "surface water flooding" i.e. if it rains very heavily and the drains don't work. Pretty much every street on level ground will be shaded in this computer model - zoom in on Hull for example.

[/QUOTE]

Ah, I assumed that surface water = river flooding. Mind you Hull will flood pretty easy!
 
I presume a major question is whether she'll be able to get a mortgage if she's getting one, and insurance?
 
No insurance = no mortgage.
depending on a lenders/valuers interpretation of things, if it was deemed that this causes saleability issues, some lenders might also not lend. This could be dependent on loan to value.
 
If she can get insurance it would presumably not be a problem either way - and insurers would have their own flood maps?
 
Or rias or saga do good deals (I think) for over 50s. But yes check postcode and see whether it includes flood insurance.

(assuming she's over 50 and didn't have children very young :) ).
 
Last edited:
I have to say NFU house insurance were stars when I had my flood (top down rather than bottom up iyswim), paid out properly with no quibbles. I'd be with them now but we had a disagreement about bees :(.

It did teach me that you don't know how cheap your insurance is until it's time for them to pay out.
 
Badgers said:
I think she has a vision of oil derricks next to her back garden pumping 24 hours a day and black gold spraying all over her conservatory :D
Click to expand...

Family get together at Badger's mum's new gaff?
1595536809405.png

When I sold my place in London on a former Victorian industrial site (converted late '80s) the environmental search came back with nothing found, which seemed strange. I get the brownfield environmental records are not very comprehensive. I wonder what the neighbouring development, formerly owned by Associated Lead, got on.
 
pseudonarcissus said:
When I sold my place in London on a former Victorian industrial site (converted late '80s) the environmental search came back with nothing found, which seemed strange. I get the brownfield environmental records are not very comprehensive. I wonder what the neighbouring development, formerly owned by Associated Lead, got on.
Click to expand...

I can't remember the details but I think there was a plan in the 1990s to put together a govt register of contaminated land but it effectively got stamped on by the building industry who didn't want to know (or anyone else obviously). TBF this is partly because the UK is basically nearly all contaminated - or at least a hell of a lot is. I did a bit of work on the Olympic site in Stratford in the run up to the 2012 games and one of the selling points for that bid was that there would be massive remediation of contaminated land on old industrial sites but in the event there was basically none because the land was so polluted, they just membraned the whole thing and left the crap underneath. I was told that when they were digging cores for sampling what was there they were finding huge lead concentrations which from the depth and something to do with the decomposition of the lead they could identify as coming from Roman lead smelting, ie it was about 2000 years old, so tbf the idea of just quickly cleaning this up was pretty far-fetched, especially with the pressure of a no-move deadline. So like most of the other social and environmental outputs of the Olympic bid, it was quietly junked.
 
I seem to remember there was a plan to give away vegetables grown at the various garden festivals to local people and that was also scrapped because many of the vegetables had higher than expected levels of pollutants including heavy metals.

I expect that anywhere there has been human occupation over an extended period, there will also be pollution.
 
co-op said:
I can't remember the details but I think there was a plan in the 1990s to put together a govt register of contaminated land but it effectively got stamped on by the building industry who didn't want to know (or anyone else obviously). TBF this is partly because the UK is basically nearly all contaminated - or at least a hell of a lot is. I did a bit of work on the Olympic site in Stratford in the run up to the 2012 games and one of the selling points for that bid was that there would be massive remediation of contaminated land on old industrial sites but in the event there was basically none because the land was so polluted, they just membraned the whole thing and left the crap underneath. I was told that when they were digging cores for sampling what was there they were finding huge lead concentrations which from the depth and something to do with the decomposition of the lead they could identify as coming from Roman lead smelting, ie it was about 2000 years old, so tbf the idea of just quickly cleaning this up was pretty far-fetched, especially with the pressure of a no-move deadline. So like most of the other social and environmental outputs of the Olympic bid, it was quietly junked.
Click to expand...
My mate Frank took 60cm off the top of the millennium dome site...I don’t think may sites have had that much removal, certainly no Associated Lead on the isle of dogs..they just get capped. My place had no bare earth, to be frank, so no vegetable gardens. The local allotments all seemed to have been on land that had somehow escaped industrialization.
 
Roof:
The main roof is pitched and covered with interlocking concrete tiles. The dormer flat roof is covered with traditional
mineral felt.

A few tiles are damaged and cracked.
The repairs and improvements should be undertaken soon.
The felt lining under the roof covering can become brittle with age, particularly when exposed to sunlight, rainwater
and wind action. Deterioration often occurs at the bottom of the roof and at the edges where the lining is more
exposed. Coverings should be kept in good condition at all times. The felt should be repaired/replaced as soon as
any deterioration is seen.

It should be noted that, compared with traditional coverings such as tiles and slates, most bitumen based
mineralised felt roofs have a typical life of 10-15 years. They are also prone to sudden failure and leakage. Periodic
re-covering will therefore be necessary. When this is undertaken, the supporting structure may also need some
attention.

Condition Rating 2
 
Main Walls:
The walls are of cavity construction with a brick outer leaf. The walls contain a bituminous felt damp proof course.
There are several air vents to ventilate the air space beneath the ground floor.

A small number of bricks close to ground level are crumbling and spalling. The damp-proof course on the front and
rear of the property is within 100mm of external ground levels.

The repairs needed are not serious or urgent and are considered to be part of normal maintenance work of the
property and should be dealt with after taking ownership or when annual maintenance is next carried out. It is
advisable that you obtain quotations for this work before exchange of contracts so that all costs are known before
you commit to the purchase. You should follow the advice given in the page in this report entitled 'What to do now'.

Ground levels should be reduced to at least 150 mm below the damp proof course. An alternate measure would be
to install a gravel channel.

In properties of this age it will be prudent to install a gravel channel in the ground at the base of the walls. This should be approximately
200 x 200 mm and filled with 10mm gravel. This will help alleviate saturation levels to the base of the walls during wet conditions.

Condition Rating 2

It is not known whether the external cavity walls contain insulation and as this could reduce large heat losses, it should be considered
as a possible improvement. Before any work is carried out, the cavities should be checked to ensure no blockages are present which
could lead to damp when the cavities are filled.
 
Roof structure:

The roof space eaves areas were entered through a hatch in the wall. The roof space has been converted and we
refer you to our comments in Section F9. The roof is formed with conventional timber rafters, purlins and cut
timbers. The roof space is insulated with a mixture of modern mineral wool and rigid polyurethane.
The roof is poorly ventilated. The roof space is not insulated to modern standards. The remaining roof structure is
in satisfactory order. Roof timbers should be regularly inspected and maintained in good condition.
This could lead to damp and timber decay internally.
This is a risk to the building, and we refer you to our comments in section J.
The repairs and improvements should be undertaken soon. It is advisable that you obtain quotations for this work
before exchange of contracts so that all costs are known before you commit to the purchase. You should follow
the advice given in the page in this report entitled 'What to do now'.

Condition Rating 3 :hmm:
 
Other:
The property mains powered smoke/fire alarms. We cannot confirm satisfactory operation of the alarms. The loft
has been converted into additional accommodation.
The loft conversion work will not meet modern regulation and may also be defective as roof insulation and
ventilation is poor and inadequate.

Condition Rating 2
 
These are a few examples ^

If anyone is able to look at a PDF on this I would be grateful as mother is panicking and getting very upset.
Will happily donate to server fund or send someone a drink on this.
 
Probably 90% of loft conversions in the UK are defective and inadequate. Whether it's something to get overly worried about depends a bit on exactly what's wrong. For me - if the conversion has been in place for 5-10 years or more, and there's not evidence of condensation causing damp in the structural timbers anywhere, then I'd take the view that it's probably not something to worry about. For peace of mind - budget enough cash to have in reserve for a re-roofing, which would mean taking off the existing roof tiles, maybe replacing the felt/membrane beneath them, and improving/adjusting the way the insulation is installed. And perhaps replacing the mineral felt on the dormer at some point. It would be an opportunity to improve the comfort of the building, if after living in it for a bit, she found that the loft room got cold in winter.
In practice, I'd probably live in it, and if no immediate problems were evident, do nothing about the roof, but expect that likely I'd have to consider getting it redone in the next 10 or 20 years. Maybe individual cracked or broken roof tiles should be dealt with immediately - I'd take a look at them and see how badly damaged they were.
As long as the purchase has allowed some kind of ongoing maintenance budget then I don't think there's anything to panic about. It's just the reality of any building that money will need to be spent on it over time. Even a building that came up with a perfect survey report could suddenly present some kind of expensive issue at any time in the future.
These kinds of surveys tend to be quite cautious. In other words they'll recommend taking action about things that most people don't bother with doing anything about.
Everyone has their own approach to risk, and the stage of deterioration where they take action.
 
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