Residential Environmental Risks
Environmental Pollution Liability (EPL) has been a fact of life for many years, certainly since the introduction of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and still this liability accesses our lives at a relentless pace. So much so that it is now necessary to consider the liability in two very distinct areas i.e. that impacting on residential property and that impacting on commercial property.
Residential Property
The provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 impose new liabilities on householders in the United Kingdom, which are now beginning to take effect. At the same time this Act imposes a responsibility on Local Authorities to establish a Contaminated Land Register. Under this legislation Local Authorities are required to issue an Environmental Notice (part 2a notice) to any householder whose land is considered to be possibly contaminated and to enter the address of that land on the register. It is then the responsibility of the householder to “clean up” the land at their own cost in accordance with any directions issued by the local authority. So far over 400 notices have been issued in England since 2000 and the rate of issue is increasing each year, this number is expected to more than double in the 12 months July 06 to July 07.
Insurance Protection
