Environmental Liability Review

Negative environmental reports can delay transactions due to buyer or funder concerns. The true environmental liability picture requires expert interpretation of the technical, legal, insurance and commercial situation in each particular transaction.

Elm Law provides an Environmental Liability Review for desktop reports "in need of further assessment" to help speed up transactions.

Traditional options to help "pass" the report will often not be appropriate due to time pressure or cost constraints.

• Regulatory consultations with the local authority contaminated land and planning team usually cost £450 and replies can take over 20 days.
• A basic phase 1 site walkover will cost £1200 to £1800 and take 7-10 days. Detailed environmental compliance audits range from £2500 to £5000.
• Contaminated land indemnity insurance that protects against the service of regulatory notices will cost between £500 and £5000. 
• Environmental Impairment Liabiity insurance policies that include both regulatory action and third party claims can be over £50,000.

Environmental Liability Review -  £500 / 2 day turnaround

• Expert environmental lawyer opinion of the Groundsure or Landmark/Argyll desktop report.
• Environmental liability assessment of the contaminated land concerns.
• At no charge, we will initially check the desktop report. If we accept the instruction, ELM Law will conclude that the property is "low risk" of Part 2A liabilities and "suitable for lending".
• The legal opinion is backed by £3 million professional indemnity cover and to date has always been accepted by funders.

This innovative service provides an alternative option to "pass" a medium risk site to help facilitate the transaction.