Asbestos in house we're buying

cth3403

Hi,

My wife and I had a building survey completed and this indicated the possibility of asbestos, as such we've had an asbestos survey carried out and found that the tiles they've used in a suspended ceiling are asbestos insulation board (Amosite, Chrysotile).

Our son has breathing difficulties and there is no way we'd exchange until the asbestos is removed. Can we get the vendor to pay for removal or reduce the house price to cover the cost of removal? Any suggestions or tips would be gratefully received.

HouseBuyer77

Many houses contain asbestos (only fully banned in 1999) and in most cases entirely fine provided it's left undisturbed. So drill into the ceiling and you need to be careful but day to day the asbestos is entirely encapsulated into the material and not a problem.

So I'd be surprised if you managed to negotiate a reduction unless this house was either specifically advertised as asbestos free or having asbestos is rather surprising (unless it's newer than 1999 or has been totally refurbished since 1999 it's not that surprising).

Surrey_EA

You can ask.

Have the specialist company who carried out the inspection confirmed that the asbestos needs removing? I'm no expert, but as I understand it most asbestos is not harmful, unless you begin breaking it up or drilling through it. Although with your son's breathing difficulties I can see why you night be concerned.

davidmcn

It's not going to affect your son's or anybody else's breathing, unless somebody grinds it up and snorts it.

cth3403

Thanks for the replies.

It was built in the 30's and I'm guessing the ceiling was done in the late '80s or '90s. To be honest I'm not surprised that the house has asbestos from everything I've read, but I'd kind of hoped that during the form filling in stage they might have mentioned that the suspended ceiling they had fitted is AIB.

Whilst it might be fine to live with if you don't mess with it, the potential is still there. We don't feel that taking such a risk with our children's health is something we can live with if we can get it removed.

Grenage

The electrical sockets and any square edges are going to be far more of a hazard than asbestos ceiling tiles. The seller may not have known that they were asbestos tiles, or quite probably, didn't consider them noteworthy.

As a seller, I would not be interested in footing the bill - you might be lucky.

fairy_lights

cth3403 wrote: »

Whilst it might be fine to live with if you don't mess with it, the potential is still there. We don't feel that taking such a risk with our children's health is something we can live with if we can get it removed.

But you've said yourself, it's fine as long as you don't mess with it.
If you would rather have it removed then that's your choice, but I would be very surprised if the vendor would be willing to pay for it.

Davesnave

cth3403 wrote: »

We don't feel that taking such a risk with our children's health is something we can live with if we can get it removed.

Yes, you can get it removed, but the vendor will probably not be interested in having it done, or footing the bill, just to suit your lifestyle choice.

After all, they lived with it for years, probably not giving it a thought, hence the lack of any flag-up from them.

davidmcn

cth3403 wrote: »

We don't feel that taking such a risk with our children's health is something we can live with.

What risk? Have you ever heard of a child suffering from an asbestos-related illness? I haven't.

hazyjo

As a vendor, I definitely wouldn't pay. It's very common - search the forum for 'asbestos'. Lots of posts on it.


What if they pay to get all their ceilings, etc replaced and you pull out? No thanks. Your request, your bill.


Of course, they may be more accommodating or be in a rush to sell.


Good luck.


Jx

stator

When you say suspended ceiling, are you talking about this kind of thing?