Structural Surveyor missed obvious BROKEN asbestos in my home

jgparker122

Hello MSE,

Want to get some advice or hear from people that have gone through a similar situation.

Back in August my fiancee and I found a property we loved, we made an offer, arranged a full structural survey which came back all clear so we bought it and moved in.

Since then I had British Gas come round to take advantage of their "free insulation offer" but this could not be done as the gentleman immediately spotted broken asbestos in the loft. This was right next to the loft hatch and was not covered by insulation so visible by the naked eye! literally big grey panels!

My partner and I were furious, we have since had a full asbestos examination done to the house to see what we were dealing with. This confirmed that;

"The first floor ceiling cladding was sampled from the roof space and confirmed as Chrysotile (white) Asbestos cement, this cladding has been concealed with plaster board in the bathroom, however the remaining cladding within the t=roof space
above the bathroom had minor damage. The exposed face of the ceiling cladding on
the first floor was in a good sealed condition at the time of the survey.
The Ground floor ceiling cladding was also sampled and confirmed as Chrysotile
(white) Asbestos cement, this cladding was also in a good sealed condition at the
time of the survey. It should be presumed the plastered kitchen ceiling is concealing
the same Asbestos cement materials."

The property is from 1910, which I've been told should have alerted the surveyor to the likelihood of asbestos being present, yet no where throughout his report does he mention asbestos.

The building surveyor also confirms with confidence that the ceiling panels are all plaster board and wooden lathes.

My questions are:

Do I have right to complain to the surveyor?
What am I likely to receive as compensation or a settlement? (we would not have bought the house if we had known asbestos was present)
Has anyone been through this before?

Thank you in advance!

phoenix_w

I'm sure someone better informed will be along to advised, but please don't panic! Most houses built or amended before the 90's will have some asbestos somewhere and as long as it's in good condition and remains undisturbed you will remain perfectly healthy. In fact, in most cases it's best to leave it in place, seal it and cover it where possible. The chrysotile you have is the lowest risk type as well, so do not panic.

I have no idea whether you can make a claim against your surveyor, but I would hazard a guess that unless you paid and asked for a full survey of all materials specifically checking for asbestos you are unlikely to be successful. As you've discovered you can't tell if a material contains asbestos until it is tested in a lab.

But really, don't panic. Your house is likely very safe according to your report - as long as you're hot hammering, drilling and sanding the boards you'll be fine.

jgparker122

Thanks for your reassurance, we have been told that it's something to live with but annoyingly the loft space is out of bounds due to the large portion of cracked and broken panels.

My partner and I would not have bought the property had we known which is why we may seek compensation. Even if it only covers getting the asbestos removed or encapsulated both options cost a hefty some.

It's really annoying because we looked and paid for the most expensive survey we could find to make sure we cover off any problems. Which I would have at least expected him to come back with "may be risk of asbestos, seek professional help"....

System

British Gas engineers are getting good if they can identify asbestos by sight without doing any tests.

phoenix_w

It's worth talking to the guys who wrote your asbestos report and asking for advise - they may advise that you just need to seal the broken boards and cover them over. I really can't imagine this is going to cost a lot. Removal on the other hand will cost a lot.

I honestly wouldn't fret.

jgparker122

Haha, I guess because his entire job is going into peoples lofts I expect they are trained to spot dangers which would put him or the team that lays the insulation at risk.....

credit where credits due...he was correct.

LUHG1878

I agree with phoenix, don't panic, many older homes contain asbestos, and it's perfectly safe. Some water pipes still in use today are asbestos, at least you now know it's there.

You are right though, the surveyor should have been alerted to the possibility that there may have been asbestos due to the age of the home, even if it hadn't been visible.

The surveyor we used missed a number of issues, they only look at roofs from ground level for instance, they don't actually go up on the roof, so how can they tell you it's 100%? Or, if they visit on a nice sunny day how will they know if there are drafts coming in around dg windows?

Did he actually go into the loft space during his survey?

Speak to the surveyor and see what he says. Unfortunately I feel you will have very little comeback though, as he'll most likely say he didn't see it, and if it's undisturbed it's not an issue.

I'd only tackle the affected area, full removal shouldn't be necessary, and it shouldn't be that expensive for what sounds like a small area.

jgparker122

Hi Luhg1878,

Yes he did go into the loft space, he took photos which are included in the report. Some of which you can see the asbestos panels in the photos.

The asbestos specialist recommended encapsulation then re plastering over the top of it. which would cost nearer £8K for the work to be carried out.

We're not panicking, we just feel the service we paid for didn't provide the bare minimum :S.

LUHG1878

I'd draft an email and send it to the surveyor, include a copy of your asbestos report, and calmly and politely ask him why this was not picked up in his report.

Did the asbestos specialists recommend encapsulation of the entire area, or just the affected patch where it's been broken?

jgparker122

Ok, I'll give that a go thank you LUHG8878

They recommended ALL of the affected areas so ceiling panels on the ground and 1st floow

teneighty

jgparker122 wrote: »

Hi Luhg1878,

Yes he did go into the loft space, he took photos which are included in the report. Some of which you can see the asbestos panels in the photos.

The asbestos specialist recommended encapsulation then re plastering over the top of it. which would cost nearer £8K for the work to be carried out.

We're not panicking, we just feel the service we paid for didn't provide the bare minimum :S.

Photos from the survey report showing the panels containing asbestos are your golden ticket.

Any competent surveyor should have realised that the panels may have contained asbestos as asbestos cement sheets are quite distinctive. This should have triggered them to look elsewhere in the property and certainly flag it up for further investigation. Assuming it was a Chartered Surveyor simply lodge a formal complaint with the firm (ask them for their formal complaint procedure) and if you are unsatisfied with the response they should have a free independent ombudsman scheme that you can escalate the complaint to.

£8k sounds excessive just for encapsulation, I would be inclined to go for complete removal and new ceilings throughout.