From Legal Futures’ Associate Terrafirma.
Terrafirma, an expert provider of environmental information and data intelligence, has become the first commercial organisation to be licensed by The Law Society as a ‘Report Producer’ of the official CON29M Report, a mandatory requirement for property and land purchase in coal mining areas. The Terrafirma CON29M Report offers property and legal professionals a level of interpretation, risk transfer and client protection not previously available and contains an expert professional opinion that is backed by comprehensive terms and conditions, with all liability for the outcomes of the report passing to Terrafirma, protecting the client, lender and solicitor.
CON29M (2018) is new guidance from the Law Society, its legal form comprised of eleven questions for the investigation of past, present and future coal mining activity in England and Wales. Licensed by the Law Society, the Terrafirma CON29M Report offers expert interpreted answers to these eleven questions (14 for commercial properties) using Coal Authority licensed data and satisfying all the requirements as stipulated by the new Law Society guidance.
“By providing Terrafirma with the first commercial license for the CON29M legal form, The Law Society has recognised the quality of our data analysis, professional opinion, terms and conditions and suite of reports. It is a huge achievement and a momentous occasion in both the development of Terrafirma and in the evolution of environmental reports,” says Tom Backhouse, CEO and founder, Terrafirma. “The previous CON29M form raises questions which may result in the need for further interpretation and additional reports, at an extra cost to the client and causing transactions in coal mining areas to experience delays. The Terrafirma CON29M automatically includes this additional data and interpretation at no extra cost, resulting in a dramatic reduction in the number of delayed transactions.”
The Terrafirma CON29M utilises improved data processes, risk screening and assessment, to ensure a prospective purchaser will have a better understanding of what coal mining risks face their property. This will eliminate the requirement for a solicitor to report on a liability they may not have detailed knowledge of and reduce the amount of time a solicitor spends reporting back to the client or the lender.
