tm blog

Terrafirma’s updated Ground Report – Coming 1st October

Terrafirma’s updated Ground Report will be available to order on tmconvey from October 1st. Pricing remains unchanged.

This will be the first domestic search product to give an accurate prediction of properties which are likely to suffer clay-related shrink-swell movements or be affected by nearby tree roots – including an insight into the possible long-term effects of a changing climate on subsidence risk.

Sample report: Click here to see a sample report

About the report

The updated Ground Report includes a simple-to-understand guide to the potential amount of ground movement and the zone of influence of large trees, providing clear guidance on the scope of building surveys and subsidence insurance for affected properties.  

It includes:

·An additional clay subsidence summary on the front page, highlighting recommended actions for the purchaser.

·Terrafirma’s unique sinkhole alert now forms part of the front-page location map, highlighting recorded collapses near to the purchasers’ property.

·A revised Natural Ground Perils module which identifies the likely risks from slope movement as well as any mapped landslide areas.

· A new comprehensive Clay Subsidence module.

Pricing: Unchanged at £50+ VAT

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Account Manager or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Groundsure’s Mine Entry Report (MER) will be available to order on tmconvey from September 6th.

This is a follow-up report to the Groundsure CON29M Official Coal Mining Search:  where mine entries (shafts and adits) are identified within 20m of a property, the CON29M recommends that they are investigated further through this interpretative report.

Sample report: Click here to see a sample report 

About the report

The MER provides an assessment of the ground movement risk associated with mine entries, provided by an experienced and qualified consultant from Mining Searches UK using a variety of data sources. 

It includes:

• A clear statement of risk associated with mine entries within 20m of the property 
• Further details provided on each mine entry
• The calculated impacted area - the zone of influence - for each mine entry 
• Where appropriate, connecting underground roadways are included
• An OS MasterMap site plan displaying the zone of influence of each mine entry 
• Guidance on next steps in the event of subsidence damage  

Pricing

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Account Manager or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk 

tmgroup spoke to Paul Addison, Managing Director of DevAssist about Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments (SHLAAs), and how understanding where there is development potential is just as critical as advising clients on current planning applications.

Nearly ⅓ of properties have a high risk of development in their proximity

I think the first thing you really need to know is that nearly ⅓ of the property purchases you are consulting on, have a high risk of development in their proximity. Furthermore, this risk is not always made clear, so if this risk is unknown to the client at the point of purchase, are you responsible? 

You could well be. In an economic climate where we are all increasingly risk averse, a risk of unforeseen development for your clients is a risk to you. Claims against Professional Indemnity are one of the most common contributory factors to solicitors going out of business. 

‘95% of homebuyers are concerned about unforeseen development in their neighbourhood.’ (Institute of Economic Affairs)

Purchasing a property, only to discover too late that there is a significant risk of development nearby, can and does result in clients taking legal action against their solicitors. Unfortunately, we’ve only seen the rate of these claims increasing. Clients are placing responsibility for interpreting planning data, with their conveyancer. The landmark case which really shifted the perspective across the whole industry was the Bird & Bird case in back in 2014. 

Law firm Bird & Bird had been instructed to purchase a high value property in North London. However, they had failed to disclose to the client that a planning report had contained information regarding a substantial development planned nearby. The client did not learn of this development until after the contract had been signed and deposit to the vendor paid. Upon discovery, they pulled out of the sale and took Bird & Bird to court to recoup costs invested so far. Ironically, the development was nearby but would not have adversely affected their property. In court, Bird & Bird took the stance that they were not under any duty to provide the report. Regrettably, having felt they had followed protocol correctly, the judge took the side of the client. Bird & Bird lost the case and were ordered to pay £1.8m in damages plus interest.

So how do you protect your firm and your reputation?

My advice to conveyancers is always the same. You need to be accessing all the data available to you and not relying on planning data reports alone. Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments (SHLAAs) are a land viability exercise undertaken by local councils. This assessment of land availability identifies a future supply of land which is suitable, available and achievable for housing and economic development uses. This is an activity taking place in all of our local neighbourhoods with a real risk of impacting us all, but so little attention is paid to them. This is of course great news for developers, but worrying for homeowners. For those that aren’t yet in the know; 

The assessment will:

• identify sites and broad locations with potential for development;

• assess their development potential;

• assess their suitability for development and the likelihood of development coming forward (the availability and achievability).

How does this affect you and your clients? 

Sites that have undergone this assessment are significantly more likely to be approved for planning permission. However, here’s the real catch, SHLAA’s are not reported in standard searches or planning data. If your firm only commissions the basic searches, you will be missing vital information regarding potential development. 

In addition to this, the planning data you receive is usually provided as raw data. This makes the data complex to interpret and in my experience, doesn’t give you the full picture. 

Important development insight is contained in the planning data but often, any risks of development to the property you are interested in, are not easily identified. This is due to the geo-coding of the data, making the proximity of planned developments to the property of interest, unclear.  It is often the case that planning data will identify a development proposal in the neighbourhood, but mislead you about how near that development is to a subject property. On a planned development of 2,000 homes, the geo-coding could be set to any point on that large acreage – likely some distance from the property you’re looking at. When in reality, the development is going to extend as far as the bottom of your client’s garden. 

The only way to extract the real risk of, or proposed development and its proximity to a property, is to assess the planning data alongside the SHLAA research. 

How likely is it that your clients will be affected by unforeseen development? 

Very. Particularly in the ever-shifting and evolving urban environments. Our research indicates that purchasers and investors have a 20% chance of experiencing major or significant change in London. In Manchester, this rises to 42%. We can’t always avoid development or the risk of it, but we can be better informed. 

Rooms without a view

Just last month in Folkestone, we were commissioned to deliver a report on a subject property which enjoyed uninterrupted sea views. The apartment was to be a retirement home and the views were the primary attraction for the buyer. We identified two high risk development proposals, just metres from the property. One of these proposals had already received planning permission. The approved development was for a large modern apartment block that would obstruct the sea views entirely from the property - see image below. 

These developments were not picked up in the standard conveyancing searches that had already been undertaken.

It’s not just the sea views under threat of course. We recently delivered a report for clients in Warrington. The property was a country cottage that boasted enviable rural views and a quiet location.

Our report ascertained that there was a real risk of development in the immediate vicinity of the property. Our report identified that the area as a whole has been considered for Garden City Suburb development and that one site, bordering the subject property had already been promoted through the SHLAA process. This insight wouldn’t have been exposed in standard conveyancing searches and was critical to the client’s decision on whether to proceed with the purchase.

Be informed 

I feel passionately that you can only take responsibility for the information, if you have the full picture. If your searches do not contain SHLAA data, you are missing a vital piece of the puzzle. This omission of data has been a source of huge frustration for me over the years and hence the establishment of my own company in this field. 

Discovering unforeseen development is not a rarity either. You and your clients will be impacted by development, as we are a small island in dire need of more housing! However, we can be more informed about our changing neighbourhoods, and in turn make more informed decisions when it comes to buying properties.

For more information about DevAssist, visit www.devassist.co.uk or get in touch with your tmgroup Account Manager. 

On Monday 12th August 2019, Groundsure’s relaunched Agricultural Report will be available to order on tmconvey - with new and updated pricing (see more details in the table below). 

Following an extensive research programme with Property Lawyers and PSLs from leading law firms across the UK, the report has been redeveloped with new data, features, improved layout and a new design – including:

• Law Society compliant contaminated land assessment, including confirmation of any high risk features by experts

• *NEW* Full flood risk assessment covering river, coastal, surface water and groundwater - compliant with Law Society guidance

• Manual review of high detail historical Ordnance Survey mapping

• In-depth contaminated land database dating back to the 1840s (including 27,000+ land use classifications)

• *NEW* Energy includes current and proposed oil and gas exploration areas and wells, wind farms, solar farms, power stations and large energy infrastructure

• *NEW* Transportation includes Crossrail 1 and 2, HS2, active railways, underground and DLR

• *NEW* Planning constraints inform about environmental and cultural designations in the area that could impact on planning proposals

• *NEW* Planning applications will inform on small and large developments on or near the Agricultural Land

• Ground stability covers natural and non-natural subsidence potential, including coal mining screening

• Property specific radon assessment

• *NEW* Crop map of England (provides a detailed description of the specific agricultural uses at a farm)

• *NEW* Enhanced guidance on Section B8 of the Law Society Conveyancing Handbook (25th ed.)

o Environmental stewardship schemes

o Agricultural land classification

o Timber felling licenses

o Open access land

o Waste exemptions

o Current and historical rights of way assessment

o Abstraction licences

o Discharge consents

o Environmental designations

These enhancements are also accompanied by price changes. 

You can see the new and updated pricing in the table below:

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Account Manager or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

FCI have joined forces with Terrafirma to deliver a new search report, combining the current Premium Residential Environmental Report with Terrafirma’s official CON29M coal mining search. 

• Cost: £80.00 + VAT

• Location on tmconvey: Under the Environmental section

• Sample report: Click here to see a sample report

Available on tmconvey from early June, this search report combines the Environmental, Flood, Ground Stability, Energy and Infrastructure of the FCI Premium Residential Search, with a Terrafirma CON29M, which automatically includes nearby subsidence claims data (previously only available at additional cost from The Coal Authority). 

If you have any questions or queries, please contact your Account Manager, or get in touch with our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Groundsure’s Preliminary Unexploded Ordnance Risk Assessment will be available to order on tmconvey from early June – identifying the potential risks from unexploded ordnance (UXO) that could affect your client’s construction projects. 

• Cost: £195 + VAT

• Location on tmconvey: Under the Environmental section

• Sample report: Click here to see a sample report

About the report

Based on a 10km radius from the red dot marking the property, the report covers:

• Analysis of over 5,000 projects to mitigate bomb risks on  development sites since 1991

• Accurate bomb density mapping based from Ordnance Survey  maps 1941 -1944 

• Extensive archive of previous bomb excavation works and  threat assessment Bomb, V1 and V2 strike locations from original war records and area damage assessments (where available) 

• UXO risk assessment – contour maps applied around potential source of strike locations 

• The cost of the Preliminary report is discounted from the Stage 2 Detailed Risk Assessment

This report covers the possible health and safety risks for contractors under CDM 2015. Groundsure have also partnered with industry specialists Dynasafe BACTEC to provide a comprehensive view on the risks, so they can be factored into a site assessment.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact your Account Manager, or get in touch with our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Terrafirma have made a couple of changes to their reports, including adding a mine entry interpretive report to their CON29M and Ground report, as well as including a purchased Cheshire Salts Search in the Ground report. 

Mine Entry Interpretive Report added to CON29M and Ground report

Terrafirma have now included, as standard, a mine entry interpretive report for sites located within 20 metres of a coal mine entry. 

This is available within their official CON29M and Terrafirma Ground report – at no additional cost. 

The Ground report now includes the purchased Cheshire Salts Search 

The Ground report now includes the purchased Cheshire Salts Search as an appendix. This is to provide clarity to their brine mining risk assessment (including such assessment of brine mining hazards outside the Cheshire Brine Compensation District) and that of claims information obtained from a purchased Cheshire Salts Search. 

Please be aware that where such information is obtained, the terms and conditions of the Cheshire Salts Search and supplier may also apply.

REMINDER: Further Action Reports

Just a reminder that, even though the effective pass rate for the CON29M and Ground reports is now 99%, Terrafirma’s ‘Action’ reports remain in place and available if recommended. 

If you need to order such a report, please get in touch with your Account Manager or Helpdesk in the first instance. 

If you have any questions or queries, please contact your Account Manager, or get in touch with our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk 

Ordering searches is business as usual for property teams as they perform their due diligence and progress transactions to completion, yet the data their reports draw upon can tell us so much more. 

Here Groundsure take an in-depth look at available search data and reveal 20 facts you probably didn’t already know about the UK property market – including just how many properties are within 1km of the HS2 development.  

1. There are 560,677 dwellings within the UK that have a ‘Medium’ or ‘High' level of flooding from rivers and seas – and 10.25% of these may experience difficulties obtaining flood insurance for their property.  

2. Landowner permission is no longer required if oil and gas drilling takes place below 300m.

3. Towns ending in “wych” or “wich” tend to be associated with salt: Droitwich in Worcestershire, as well as Middlewich, Nantwich, Northwich and Leftwich in Cheshire are all known for their salt production.

4. Only approximately 259 postcodes in England fall within both the CON29M Coal Reporting Area and the Cheshire Brine Compensation Area.

5. 2,433,869 properties are within 1km of the HS2 development and every mile of track costs £403m!

6. The average insurance claim for a flood event is £28,000 yet only 6% of homeowners take steps to protect their property. By comparison, the average fire claim is £7,300 and 80% of homeowners protect against it, whilst the average claim for burglary is £1,000 and 54% of homeowners take precautionary steps. 

7. A Facebook photo once rumbled a false claim on a TA6 Property Information Form!

In 2012, the garden of a property in Newcastle flooded. In 2014, a couple purchased the property for £750,000. When they received the TA6 Property Information Form, which is completed by the seller, question 7 “Has any part of the property (whether buildings or surrounding garden or land) ever been flooded?” the sellers had answered “No”. The purchase successfully completed and the new owners moved into the property. In 2015, the garden then flooded twice, as did the basement of the property. The new owners then pursued legal against their vendors for “rescission on the sale contract” and to support their claim, discovered a photograph on their vendors Facebook page from July 2012 showing the back garden flooded. Whilst it is extremely rare to use the TA6 form as evidence, this goes to show that if a dedicated flood or environmental search had been purchased, the purchasers would have been fully aware that their property was at an incredibly localised flood risk. 

8. The average cost of cleaning up contaminated land is £250,000 per acre, meaning the average contaminated household plot would cost £15,000.

9. It wasn’t until 2000 that a CON29M report became a mandatory search undertaken by solicitors when acting for clients purchasing properties in former coal mining areas. 

10. 600 datasets amassing over 16 terabytes (yes, terabytes!) of data power the full suite of Groundsure reports and help conveyancers better inform their clients about environmental risks – including data on contaminated land, flooding, ground stability, current and historical land use, and transportation.

11. It wasn’t until 2000 when the introduction of Part 2A legislation came into effect, followed quickly by the 2001 Warning Cards, that it was recommended that conveyancers screen against contaminated land risk in order to perform their due diligence. The Flood Practice Note of 2013 and the Contaminated Land Practice Note of 2014 further cemented the need for environmental searches in land and property transactions.

12. In 2018, there was a 400% increase (versus 2017) in insurance claims due to natural ground subsidence. This is thought to be mainly due to the long hot and very dry summer – and not because of several million people jumping up and down when England finally won a penalty shootout.

13. 11% of the UK is either licensed or offered for oil and gas exploration.

14. Around 619,000 hectares of land in England and Wales were formerly covered by a wide range of industrial uses. 

15. Around 1.2 billion journeys are made on the London Underground each year and 55% of the network is above ground.

16. The biggest cause of natural ground subsidence insurance claims is due to shrink-swell clay soils as they expand and contract due to moisture changes.

17. 11% of the UK is occupied by the coalfield – with over 7 million properties within this area.

18. Groundsure holds a collection of over 3 million Historical Land Use records derived from OS Mapping, dating from as early as the 1840s. 

19. There are 7,781 onshore turbines in 1,991 projects in the UK.

20. An average fracking site is around 2ha in size, compared to 1,450ha for a wind farm, and 924ha for a solar farm.

On 12th April, Groundsure made some enhancements to their reports to make it even quicker and easier to read and absorb the information you need to pass onto your clients – including a new front cover layout to clarify where ‘professional opinion’, ‘further guidance’ and ‘screening’ information is available.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact your Account Manager, or get in touch with our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk 

Terry Jones Solicitors will be hosting a Spring Breakfast Property Seminar this May - in conjunction with tmgroup, Terrafirma and Howden - exploring the many and varied risks posed by the ground, alongside important changes to environmental due diligence in property development and purchase.

• Where? Shrewsbury Town Football Club (SY2 6ST)

• When? 8am-11am on Thursday 2nd May 2019 

• How do I register? Simply email marketing@terry-jones.co.uk to secure your place**

Learn more about the new chapter in the Conveyancing Handbook, the best ways to inform clients about ground hazard risks – and more!

Following breakfast at 8am, the seminar will begin at 8.30am. 

Presented by a panel of industry experts, the seminar sessions will cover a range of key topics, including:

• The new chapter in the Conveyancing Handbook reflecting the physical, legal and financial liabilities posed by ground hazards.

• Real-life case study examples highlighting the importance of identifying ground hazards.

• Advice on informing your clients about ground risks and how to manage them. 

• PI Insurance and how to achieve the best renewal terms in the current market.

There will then be a brief networking session – before the event closes at 11am.

Meet our panel of industry experts

If you’d like to find out more about our panel of industry experts, you can find a brief profile, as well as their LinkedIn profiles below:

• Clare Yates: Senior Business Development Manager for tmgroup with over 25 years of experience in the property industry. 

Connect with Clare

• Tom Backhouse: Award-winning geologist, entrepreneur and the CEO and Founder of Terrafirma, who specialise in the innovation and provision of environmental risk assessment and land information in the property, land, finance, insurance and public sectors. 

Connect with Tom

• Jenny Screech: Consultant with Howden UK Group Ltd, supporting their professional indemnity insurance (PII) proposition for solicitors and other legal professionals. 

Connect with Jenny

Secure your place and join us… 

Simply email marketing@terry-jones.co.uk to register**

**By sending your RSVP to Terry Jones Solicitors, you are agreeing to share your details with tmgroup, Terrafirma and Howden UK Group Limited. If you would not like to share your details with these companies, please ensure you add a note in your email opting out.