A Practical Guide to Environmental Issues in Commercial Property Transactions

Citation

Chun, J. (2007), "A Practical Guide to Environmental Issues in Commercial Property Transactions", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 97-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/14635780710720207

Environmental legal risks and liabilities abound in commercial property transactions, and real estate practitioners cannot afford to ignore or be ignorant of these risks and liabilities. This book, as its title suggests, addresses this concern by providing a quick practical guide for real estate practitioners in England and Wales in identifying the risks and mitigating the liabilities that accompany such transactions.

 The 372‐page book is organized into ten chapters roughly following the chronology of a property transaction. Thus, it deals first, with identifying the actual or potential environmental risks and liabilities at the pre‐contract enquiries and due diligence stage. This is followed by advice on apportioning the liabilities in the drafting of legal documentation stage; and finally the management of the risks and liabilities at the post‐completion stage. Aside from its transaction focus, one of the book's strengths is its systematic strategic analysis of the risks and liabilities from the perspectives of the various parties to these transactions, namely the buyer/tenant; the seller/landlord; the lenders and insolvency practitioners, and offers checklists and recommends precedent clauses for consideration from these perspectives. The book does not only deal with property transactions per se, there is also a chapter each on the sale of businesses and the sale of shares.

The reader should be reminded that the book is not intended to be a textbook expositing the relevant environmental law, and, is therefore, not intended to be read from cover to cover. A reader who attempts to do so is likely to come across a fair amount of repetition that makes for tedious reading. Some repetition has been avoided through liberal cross‐referencing, but nevertheless some overlapping is inevitable given the nature of the book as a quick reference tool.

That said, one chapter that I think is worth reading or at least skimming from start to finish is the final chapter. Chapter 10 provides a succinct overview of environmental law as it relates to the condition of the property, business activities on the property, or the development of land, and real estate practitioners will find it particularly useful for obtaining a basic orientation to the legal landscape in this field, before plunging into the specific issue they are concerned with.

The book is indeed a handy guide for real estate practitioners, and is an invaluable addition to the estate practitioners' reference bookshelf.