I secured a waiver from remediation – and now I want to sell the property. How do I conduct a transaction on contaminated land under the waiver from remediation?

Client

Global consumer products manufacturer

The situation

A global personal care products manufacturer operated one of its key production plants on a heavily contaminated property located in the centre of a major Polish city. In the past, we advised the client and represented them in the remediation procedure and secured for them a waiver from the remediation obligation. The waiver was granted on the basis of a risk assessment demonstrating no significant risk to human health or the environment at the current land use. The client has decided to sell the property, which opened one of the most complex scenarios in Polish transaction law concerning contaminated land under the waiver from remediation.

Our role

Comprehensive advisory on the sale of a property with documented contamination and a simultaneous remediation waiver is probably one of the most complex contaminated land transactions in Poland in terms of legal complexity and structure. The key challenges include: allocation of liability for contamination between the seller and the buyer, the relationship between the remediation waiver and the new owner’s obligations, including upon a change of land use, the legal structure of the sale agreement protecting the seller against claims and the client’s reputational sensitivity as a global consumer brand.

The result

The return of this demanding client to our team following a previous successful engagement is itself a confirmation of the quality of our advisory in contaminated property matters. We combine this matter with our unique experience of securing the remediation waiver, which gives us a complete picture of the land’s history and enables better transaction structuring.

Are you planning to sell or acquire a property with historical contamination? We have unique experience in the most complex transactions of this kind in Poland.