Asbestos not picked up on Home Buyer's Report

tintin90

Hi all,

So basically my wife and I bought a house over two years ago and we finally are getting round to making some changes in the garden. We were outside a few weeks ago taking note of what we could get rid of/tidy up when we noticed large tile like slabs sitting against the neighbouring hedge. I first of all assumed they were surplus ceramic tiles which were left over from the house extension which has been carried out in the last 10 years.
However, we had a friend round who we are getting to erect a new fence, he has confirmed that they are in fact asbestos tiles and he's not touching anything until we remove (fair enough). To be on the safe side we asked another handy friend and he has confirmed same.
Now, before we bought the house we had a 'Home Buyers Report' carried out (the middle ground between basic valuation and full structural survey) which cost around £300. It makes significant reference to the back garden but no mention of the asbestos tiles.
My question is, are we within our rights to contact the surveyor and ask them to cover the cost of removal? I reckon there's about 20 or so large tiles and it will be a significant dent on our finances.
Any help or weigh in is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

lincroft1710

I doubt if a homebuyer's report would include identifying rubbish in the garden. Also the tiles may not have been visible when the report was done.

cattie

Definitely not. A homebuyer's report doesn't cover items left laying about in the garden. You'll have to bite the bullet & pay for removal yourselves.

AdrianC

A surveyor spent an hour or two in the place, and didn't notice these tiles... Well, OK, but you've lived there for two years, and hadn't noticed them, either...

Lungboy

Double bag them and take them to your local tip that deals with asbestos.

AdrianC

Lungboy wrote: »

Double bag them and take them to your local tip that deals with asbestos.

It depends on the type of asbestos, of course. If they're asbestos-cement sheet, then this will do. If they're some more aggressive type, then it won't. If they're not asbestos at all, then even that's unnecessary.

Davesnave

tintin90 wrote: »

My question is, are we within our rights to contact the surveyor and ask them to cover the cost of removal? I reckon there's about 20 or so large tiles and it will be a significant dent on our finances.
Any help or weigh in is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

The survey was not undertaken to indemnify you from costs incurred at a distant time in the future; it was done to provide a snapshot of the property's condition on the date of inspection.

That time is long gone.

The tiles may or may not have been present when the inspection took place, and they may or may not have been visible. You have no way of proving anything either way.
This being the case, just read up on disposal and do as lungboy suggests. There will be negligible risk involved and not a huge cost if you do your homework.

tintin90

Always worth the ask, thanks for the replies everyone.

*I slightly disagree with comment that I've lived in the property for 2 years so I should have noticed. In no way do I have the knowledge to recognise such items, so I may be forgiven for thinking that paying someone who has the expertise else to notice. It's not that I didn't know they were there, more so that they were in fact asbestos.

marksoton

tintin90 wrote: »

Always worth the ask, thanks for the replies everyone.

*I slightly disagree with comment that I've lived in the property for 2 years so I should have noticed. In no way do I have the knowledge to recognise such items, so I may be forgiven for thinking that paying someone who has the expertise else to notice. It's not that I didn't know they were there, more so that they were in fact asbestos.

A surveyor undertaking a homebuyer report is no better qualified than you to identify asbestos...

AdrianC

tintin90 wrote: »

I slightly disagree with comment that I've lived in the property for 2 years so I should have noticed. In no way do I have the knowledge to recognise such items, so I may be forgiven for thinking that paying someone who has the expertise else to notice. It's not that I didn't know they were there, more so that they were in fact asbestos.

I was only going by what you said in the original post :-

So basically my wife and I bought a house over two years ago and we finally are getting round to making some changes in the garden. We were outside a few weeks ago taking note of what we could get rid of/tidy up when we noticed large tile like slabs sitting against the neighbouring hedge. I first of all assumed they were surplus ceramic tiles which were left over from the house extension which has been carried out in the last 10 years

tintin90

Really? I find that difficult to I believe, in many other searches I've done, they seem to spot asbestos in a fair few instances where the every day Joe public wouldn't