Contamination risk management in property matters
Event Description
Contamination is attracting a lot of attention in the media with discoveries of asbestos in mulch and other high-profile cases. It is incredibly relevant to property professionals given the potential for contamination risk to occur in urban and rural areas and across all property types (i.e. residential, commercial and industrial).
This webinar will explore the challenges of dealing with contamination risk in property and corporate transactions. It will provide an overview of practical steps and practice management considerations for dealing with contamination (or potential contamination) risk when acting for buyers and sellers, lenders, lessors and lessees.
The Environment Protection Act 2017 (VIC) came into force in July 2021. Three years since it commenced, much has changed in contamination law. There are new duties to manage contamination and notify of contamination, and a new suite of notices that can be issued by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria in relation to contaminated land. There are new registers that provide information about contamination matters and a large amount of data available about contamination in the state.
It is critical to ensure that you understand the data available to you when advising clients. This includes both information presented to you and available to you in a due diligence process for a buyer and the information that you should disclose when acting for vendors and lessors.
Key takeaways:
- Contaminated land overview
- Key sources of contamination
- Liability for investigation, management, and clean-up of contamination
- Buyer beware principles and the need for due diligence
- The role of the Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA)
- EPA Public Registers
- Case studies
- New searches to help identify contamination issues
- 15th August
- 12pm – 1pm AEST
- 1 CPD*
- 1 CPD*
Event Speakers
Gabrielle Guthrie
Principal of Guthrie Legal
Howard Waldron
Co-founder and director of Lotsearch
Helene Hogan
Product Manager