Help - attached garage with asbestos and leak

jingles8384

Hi all,

I'm looking for some help/advice.

My partner and I have had an offer accepted on a renovation project and we had a structural survey completed yesterday afternoon.

The survey has highlighted some bits that we knew about (rewiring needed, micro-bore radiators etc) but it also highlighted some structural issues we weren't aware of:

The garage is attached to the garage for the property next door (the brick work is in an 'M' shape with a shared roof and drainage etc). We knew there was a leak in the (asbestos) roof as there was a large puddle in there when we went and viewed the house originally, but the surveyor has now said that it's unlikely to last until the end of the year and 'you couldn't pay me enough to park my car in there'. In addition to the leaky roof, the brickwork is cracked and is likely to collapse very soon!

Based on the above, does anyone have any experience with demolishing and rebuilding a shared garage with an asbestos roof as well as getting the people who own the other half of the garage to pay for their half..?

Thanks in advance for your help/advice and sorry for the waffling!

cyclonebri1

The good news is that the leaking roof means the asbestos is wet. This is it's safest state.

Bad news is your neighbour may not share your concerns or have the capital to fix the issue. Talk to the neighbour, they may not even realise the issue.

Have to edit as I read you as the buyer, the same thing stands however, see if they want to contribute for their own well being, but you can do nothing to get them to contribute, you are selling, I'd get it fixed "Tut sweete, mantnon Rodney"

jingles8384

That's what I was thinking. If they don't agree then we can't knock down our garage as it will damage/collapse theirs

Does anyone know what the law says if our side of the garage collapses and takes theirs with it (given that we haven't exchanged/completed yet and we're trying to find a way to fix the problem - although might not have the money to do so for a number of months)...?

Looby_Lou

Can you look down on the roof? We had a similar situation but the central wall went above the roof level and supported 2 sets of beams and roofs. Check what teh council rules are about disposing of concrete asbestos. Our old council allowed you to take it to one tip if you had double bagged it. We (or rather my DH and his dad) bought protective gloves, goggles, masks etc then on a drizzly day they removed the asbestos and double bagged it. Once the asbestos was gone we gently removed any loose bricks and got a builder to repair/replace the wall and put a roof on.

However if your council will not accept asbestos then it will cost you an awful lot more, and lots of small builders will not touch the job!

jingles8384

Luckily the council will accept it (subject to it being double bagged etc) but the current roof is in a 'V' shape with a shared gutter-type-thing running down the length of the wall between the garages to the rear.

I've spoken with the surveyor again today and he's said that the crack in the back wall goes across both garages Having said that, the estate agent sent out a contractor this morning (after I'd called and talked about revising our offer) and she's just come back to me saying "Have just spoken to our contractor and he has looked at the garage and he is sending a quote which I will send a copy to you once received. He has advised that a rod needs to be inserted into the garage to support it, with a cost of roughly £200 plus vat" which seems to be at odds with the structural surveyor's impression..?!

I know that the estate agent is looking out for the vendor and themselves (in terms of getting the highest price possible for the house) but is there no duty of care to the purchasers as well..?!

phil24_7

My mum has a garage to the rear of her property that is not owned by her. It is in a state of disrepair with large fauna growing from cracks and the top leans out quite a lot. Despite my best efforts (power tools not withstanding) it will not collapse! One corner is completely seperate from the side wall and the side wall as a diagonal crack running from the bottom to the top (this is the same side that leans). There have been a few loose bricks at the top (above the fauna) but nothing else apart from this. Even the roof (rusty metal) refuses to collapse properly!!!

Don't stress too much about it. Surveyors will always go worst case scenario to cover themselves. I would get your own builder in to have a look and do a quote for the work.

crackhouse

Like others, i suggest you talk to your neightbours. An yes, surveyrs are known to go "worst case scenario"

[Deleted User]

My advice would be that you tell the seller that your offer is based on the asbestos / other issues being fixed by them prior to exchange of contracts.

jingles8384

Hi all,

FINALLY got our survey report this morning and there's not much in there about the garage apart from one small section: "The garage has a profiled asbestos sheet roof which leaks badly. This will need to be removed...The walls themselves have cracks on all three elevations...In our opinion, the garage is not suitable for storage of anything you consider to be of value".

They've put estimated costs of 5-10k + VAT to fix the smaller issues with the property (the garage was excluded) but that includes things like replacing stained ceilings (which we're not going to do) and re-felting the roof - the comment regarding the roof was "There is some minor damage to the roofing felt, but no evidence of rainwater ingress. The damage to the felt should be repaired at the earliest opportunity to prevent rainwater penetration".

So now I'm completely confused! Is the house safe or not..?!

cyclonebri1

jingles8384 wrote: »

Hi all,

FINALLY got our survey report this morning and there's not much in there about the garage apart from one small section: "The garage has a profiled asbestos sheet roof which leaks badly. This will need to be removed...The walls themselves have cracks on all three elevations...In our opinion, the garage is not suitable for storage of anything you consider to be of value".

They've put estimated costs of 5-10k + VAT to fix the smaller issues with the property (the garage was excluded) but that includes things like replacing stained ceilings (which we're not going to do) and re-felting the roof - the comment regarding the roof was "There is some minor damage to the roofing felt, but no evidence of rainwater ingress. The damage to the felt should be repaired at the earliest opportunity to prevent rainwater penetration".

So now I'm completely confused! Is the house safe or not..?!

It doesn't sound massive to me, they are saying the garage will be cold and wet and not vermin proof, it's a rebuild by the sound of it to make it fit for any real use.

The bit about the flat felt roof is just a condition report based on visuals, however replace it with 1 of the more modern options rather than repair existing. My choice would be GRP (fibreglass), or you could go EPDM (rubber).

You asked earlier about the legal situation if you collapsed next doors garage, I no legal expert but I think it would go like this;

If you employed a contractor he would weigh up the risks and probably charge higher as his liability insurance would take the hit.

If you went DIY it's less clear and unless negligence on your part could be proved, your home insurance would cover you, and theirs would cover them.
Don't quote me on that but I had a similar issue when next doors falling chimney damaged our property in spite of me having sent a solicitor type letter advising he would be held responsible if what was obviously a dodgy chimney fell, which it did eventually.

I guessing it's like a 50/50 split in car accidents to ensure 1 company doesn't get hit with the lot.

brightontraveller

Wouldn’t worry about it unless garage is vital part of buying the property you can always leave as is ( assuming lenders don’t hold back high % of funds )

Remove parts of it on your property make it safe until neighbour either agrees to do works jointly or you feel you have sufficient funds to force works to be done.

You could ask current owners to do works prior but as you describe property is in poor condition likely they don’t have funds or interest to do them otherwise the would have to maximize curb appeal ?

Or current owners to seek all consent needed from neighbours prior to purchase ( your solicitor etc would assist with that ?)

The only stumble might be if you don’t have sufficient funds to do works and neighbour decides to forces you to do them but any actions like that are time consuming and quite costly.
The amount of works that you do is dependent on what your prepared to live like if you don't do them and what lender thinks property is worth without works done to a extent if the report shows major defects then likely lender will adjust amount accordingly..