Insurance News & Updates

For someone who is in the real estate market looking to make some profit by obtaining or purchasing real estate property for commercial uses, it is always advisable for them to check their property for possible pollution or toxic waste of any kind. The source of the contamination could be from the polluted soil or land, underground or the construction itself. Besides causing harm to its owners, it might be causing health problems and more to properties that are located near it. If the stated problems do exist, then the property owner will be looking at clean-up costs that could build up to quite a large amount, sometimes exceeding the value of the property itself! Worse still, the property owners might be paying even more for unseen payments to the relevant authorities that are related to the environmental laws and decree.

Being the owner or the past owner of the property could mean that you will be held responsible for the toxin and poisons spreading to buildings nearby. Possible charges against you would include personal injury lawsuits or property damage. In such cases, how do you protect you and your company from getting into trouble?

The many levels of law enforcements in regards to environmental safety is still new and every now and then they will be amended to keep up with new developments. Trying to keep in touch with the latest changes can be tiring to potential and current property buyers. But the reality is that only a few main decrees are essential in helping you understand the possible penalties as a result of environmental issues.

One of the most well-known and important laws is CERCLA, which stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, where it is passed as an official law in the year 1980. Another revised and improved version of CERCLA is SARA, which stands for Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act) where it was authorized in the year 1986. There are currently a few active funds in the world today where the money is intended to help pay for the clean-up costs of deserted commercial sites that are too contaminated to be used and to cover the liability costs of the owner of the property.

If you have checked the premiums for insurance policies covering environmental risks of commercial properties, and you think that it might be too expensive or it might make you initial investments in purchasing the building seem too large of an amount, then you can go check the current Commercial General Liability, or CGL, policy that you have been keeping and paying for. Some of the CGL policies do cover for such incidents of environmental lawsuits though it was not openly declared. However, in recent years, due to the escalating lawsuits involving the very same area and insurance companies ended up paying for liabilities as a result of pollution, the insurance companies have since readjusted their clauses to not cover for such incidents.

With rising news coverage on the pollution problems and the large amount of money property owners have to pay for the damages and cleaning up, insurance companies have come up with policies which provide coverage especially for environmental damages and pollutions. This type of insurance will cover costs and damages resulting from pollution and contamination of toxic waste, damages and harm to the estate or physical harm to a third party, the cleaning-up bills of a third party's estate that is not considered the policy owner's estate, the cleaning costs of an estate that is not owned by any individuals but damaged by the policy holder's estate, and finally the transportation costs of products or waste which have caused pollution and contamination problems.

If you are thinking of purchasing and developing a brownfield site, which means the commercial site that has been left undeveloped because of its excessive pollution problems, take note that there are insurance companies willing to offer you coverage for these areas. If there is no insurance coverage offered for these sites, this land may be left undeveloped since the risks of incurring clean-up costs and the further financial payments in penalties is too high.

In order to cut down the risks involved, check with the local authorities regarding the laws and regulations regarding the pollution and environment concerning commercially run estates. Take note on your potential accountability in financial terms and also the legal requirements if something should happen to the buildings and estates near your property. If you find the law decree hard to understand always seek help from a lawyer who is well versed in the field of environmental laws. By acquiring the necessary knowledge, you can then decide if you need to purchase an environmental insurance for your property.