I am considering buying a house and land near Ganges, Herault. The property have everything we were looking for, but unfortulately has a little extra in terms of polluted land near the river - heavy metal pollution. I’m trying to find out more (for example exactly which fields are polluted, how bad is the pollution, is the pollution is the spring water and the water table as well, etc, etc)
The agent, naturally enough, has said it is nothing to worry about, much of the land around there is polluted from old mine workings upstream.
Has anyone had experience of buying or selling polluted land?
thomas712
Hello Hefin and welcome to the forum.
First thing, in my view, would be to make contact with the local Mairie… they will either give you full details of what is involved… or give you info on where to find out. Polluted land is not something to take onboard lightly. 
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Thanks, I have already asked for his or her contact details, so I’ll see what information is available. Hopefully I can arrange a face to face meeting in a week or two when I’m over next.I already know from the agent that it is forbidden to grow vegetables or keep animals for human consumption on the land, so thinking about flowers or just laying it to meadow and garden. There is still a lot of clean land on the site.
Regards
Hefin
Hefin… I’ve been mulling over your query…
You know that you cannot use the land for anything…(not even the grass-cuttings for mulch) and there is much talk about how heavy metal pollution is a health risk…
From all the environmental stuff I have been reading… heavy-metal polluted land could well become a “mill-stone around the neck” of whoever owns it, in the not too distant future.
Personally, I would walk away… Perhaps (and only perhaps) I might change my mind if I could buy all the land apart from the bit which is polluted (is that a viable possibility?)
Anyway… you do all your research… prepare a long list of questions… and best of luck with the Mairie…
cheers
Hi Stella, managed to find a report that shows even the ground waters is polluted, so not going to investigate any more. This property won’t work for us. Thanks for the comments and you can close the thread if you wish
Hi Hefin
Glad that you did thorough research…
Good luck in the search for your dream… 