PFAS contimaination lie means owners of home near the Edinburgh RAAF base must return house deposit
The owners of a northern suburbs home have been ordered by the Supreme Court to return a couple’s house deposit – after they lied about PFAS contamination.
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The owners of a house near the Edinburgh military base have been ordered to return a couple’s house deposit because they lied about possible PFAS contamination and a Department of Defence investigation.
Last week the Supreme Court overturned a District Court decision, which had found the couple were bound by the initial contract and had forfeited their $65,000 deposit when they tried to back out of the agreement.
The couple had made an offer on a Direk property, near the Edinburgh Airforce Base, in November 2018, for their daughter who had three young children.
A contract was executed for the purchase price of $650,000 and the owners were required to fill out a form which asked whether the “vendor was aware of an environmental assessment of the land or part of the land” ever being carried out, even if not completed.
The owners answered no to the question and the contract was signed and the deposit lodged.
However, only days before settlement was to finalise in January 2019, the couple discovered the house had been the subject of a Department of Defence investigation into PFAS contamination spreading from the nearby base.
The couple refused to settle and the owners issued a notice to complete the agreement or the contract would be terminated and the deposit retained.
On February 1, the contract was terminated and the owners refused to hand back the deposit.
During a trial in the District Court, Judge Patrick O’Sullivan heard evidence from an environmental consultant hired by the Department of Defence to liaise with the community about the contamination testing.
The court heard that the information campaign was to the “point of saturation” and involved information sessions, door knocking, letter box drops and information in newspapers, television news and online.
Despite that level of information, the owners said they were not aware of the PFAS contamination and subsequent investigation, arguing they lived in an “information-free bubble”.
Judge O’Sullivan rejected that argument, a stance which the Supreme Court endorsed.
“The trial judge was entitled to doubt, and ultimately reject, the suggestion that the defendants remained ignorant of what the evidence showed was a remarkable wide-ranging media campaign that included leaving leaflets in the defendant’s letterbox,” Justice Mark Livesey wrote in his leading judgment.
Justice Livesey said that Judge O’Sullivan concluded the homeowners were aware of the contamination and the investigation but was prepared to come to that conclusion without making a finding on the owner’s honesty.
The court also considered whether the investigation by the Department of Defence constituted an environmental assessment.
PFAS, a combination of man-made chemicals which was used in firefighting activities on the base, does not degrade normally in the environment and was feared to have leached into the groundwater.
The investigation at all times included the Direk home and included sampling of soil, sediment, concrete and plants as well as bore and surface water.
The owners were ordered to return the deposit along with interest.
Originally published as PFAS contimaination lie means owners of home near the Edinburgh RAAF base must return house deposit
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