19 July 2019

Today, the Sydney Morning Herald shared a toxic secret that was kept from apartment owners in Erskineville.

Owners were barred from moving into their apartments for more than a year and were yesterday, blindsided by revelations toxic contamination was to blame after being told it was an ‘‘unforeseen planning issue’’.

It comes after the Herald revealed the City of Sydney has refused to allow residents to occupy the 127 homes – known as the Sugarcube apartments and Honeycomb terraces – since their completion in April 2018.

The council said Golden Rain, the developer behind constructions on the old Ashmore industrial estate, had failed to meet remediation requirements for asbestos, hydrocarbons and heavy metals.

Many of these Erskineville buyers, purchased their property off the plan, prior to it being built.

Had these owners be properly informed of the risk prior to their purchase, they may have changed their mind. Think about it, if a property you are looking up was at risk of contamination, wouldn't you want to know?

When conducting a property search on behalf of your client, Lotsearch Hazard Alerts let you see if there is potentially contaminated historical business activity or an EPA record within 50m of your property. Available for NSW and Victorian properties, Lotsearch is designed for conveyancers, solicitors and valuers.  The ‘EPA Register & Data Search Report’ offers a fast and efficient way for obtaining information extracted from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) public registers website. Reports offer a set of data to help clients understand potential contamination hazards on or near their site.

Lotsearch hazard alerts allow you to find information you didn’t know existed. This means you can go above and beyond for your clients, adding huge value to them and your business.

Once you are aware of any contamination alerts, Lotsearch reports allow you to see a comprehensive Contaminated Land Screening Report, which includes additional data from historical sources and provides a bespoke assessment of the potential for contamination to affect the site. To understand just what information the Lotsearch reports deliver, we offer sample reports for both VIC and NSW. Download a sample report here.

To read more of the SMH article, click here

InfoTrack

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