When Greg Hayes bought a property in Leeds Township, Ont., he had every intention of injecting some time and money into it
“Well, I figured I’d put another hundred thousand in the house to fix it up,” Hayes said.
What he wasn’t expecting, however, was to be informed by the Ministry of the Environment that his new property on the site of a former gas station was contaminated and he would have to clean it up.
He says the cost is far more than he was expecting pay
“All said and done it’s gonna be between three and four hundred thousand dollars to clean up the mess,” Hayes said.
He’s since hired a lawyer to help him navigate this situation since he believes the previous owner was aware of the contamination, but did not share the information. But according to a statement provided by the Ministry of the Environment, “Any party with an interest in a site is responsible for determining the environmental status of the property”
However, according to Queen’s University professor of law, Michael Pratt, there are some exceptions to this rule
“If a seller has misrepresented the environmental state of the land then that would make them liable,” Pratt said.
Hayes says this simply isn’t what he envisioned when he purchased the land
“I bought this to retire in, not live in poverty for the rest of my life.”
And he hopes if nothing else, other buyers will learn from his situation.