Developer Lesson 7: Not All Certificates of Compliance are Created Equal

Certificates of Compliance. Everyone wants one, but not everyone ‘gets’ them. They have the same name, but they are not all the same.

Unless you really understand the conditions and limitations of a Certificate of Compliance, you can’t know what you are getting (or what a seller or neighbour say they have).

The type of Certificate of Compliance you obtain and when you obtain it requires careful consideration. For example, your wish to sell the site for full value requires that you consider what buyers will want to do with the land in the future and not just what you are doing with the land now. You may be able to obtain a ‘numeric’ CoC instead of a risk-based one by cleaning up a hot spot now at a higher cost, and in doing so sell at a higher price in future and also avoid potential future liability should someone remediate that hotspot down the road.

Would you like to learn what to look for in a CoC? Contact Richard Bereti (rbereti@harpergrey.com) or Una Radoja (uradoja@harpergrey.com).