A Langley couple who bought property to build their dream home got a nasty surprise after they dug up piles of junk buried on the property.

When Craig and Pam Cannon purchased the land in 2013, it was surrounded by berms that turned out to be full of buried tires, irrigation piping, salt bags, asphalt, old car batteries and scrap metal. The couple had to pay to have it hauled away to recycling.

"We were expecting dirt, so to see debris in every single bucket we're pulling out, the extent of it and it kept going and going and going," said Craig.

Irrigation flags from a Surrey company called Kore were also buried in the berms, so Craig called the company.

But Kore denied responsibility for the garbage, telling the Cannons in a letter, "A former owner of your property had an excavation business. He was the person who constructed the berms, and it is our understanding that he buried garbage on the site." The letter was signed John Claus, Kore’s general manager.

The Cannons were stunned to realize the Kore GM was the same John Claus who sold them the property in the first place, signing a sales agreement that promised, "The property will be free and clear of all debris on or before the possession date."

"They admit they knew the garbage was there and signed an agreement saying the property would be free and clear of all debris," said Craig.  

The Kore GM refused an interview on camera, but on the phone told CTV News that there was nothing in the sales agreement to say they had to clean the land up and that if there was, the sale never would have closed.

Claus insists the "clean up" clause in the purchase agreement referred to clutter left on the property by a previous renter. The debris in the berms is the Cannon’s problem.

So the Cannons are now stuck with the cleanup costs and feel they have no option but to sue.

"It's emotional because I don't understand how any company with a conscience can just pretend that it doesn't exist," said Pam.  

The Cannons say they've spent hundreds of hours clearing and sorting the debris and at least $1,000 hauling it to the dump. They were hoping to get a bit of money to offset those costs through a gentlemen's agreement, rather than going through the courts, but it now appears that is not going to happen.