Removing & Selling a Garage with an Asbestos roof - Legal?

TomWoody1979

Hi All,

I hope this is the right thread to post this question.

I am thinking of selling our prefrabricated concrete garage that has an asbestos roof, however I wanted to check whether it would be legal to do that?

If I advertised it on eBay or a local newspaper and stated that it was the resposnbility of the buyer to collect and disamantle it themselves, would that be enough of a disclaimer?

The other option I have is to pay a professional to dispose and dismantle it which would be £500 upwards?

Obviously I could, very carefully, dispose of the asbestos roof at my local tip myself and sell the rest of the garage.

I read an old thread that gave mixed messages on the risks of the asbestos (probably the white kind), but because I am selling it, do I need a special license?

Thank you in advance for any comments.

Tom

lush_walrus

If its the pre fabricated asbestos concrete tiles then these are considered low risk and can be removed by anyone rather than a qualified contractor. This is because like the asbestos toilet seats these are considered to be low risk. The composite encasing the asbestos is very slow at deteriorating so thus the low risk.

With regards to the colour of asbestos you will not know what colour is contained within it, white blue and brown was used in the tiles.

I would be surprised if someone would want to buy it the concrete files are one of the most widely used asbestos that everyone can recognise but you can dispose of it yourself at the dump - but you still need to alert them to it.

Also if it's a pre fab are you sure there isn't asbestos in the walls of are they correlated metal?

TomWoody1979

Thank you Lush Walrus. You're right I don't know for a fact on the colour, just what somebody told me. As for the walls, I don't if it too has asbestos.

I saw somebody selling a similar garage (albeit no asbestos in the roof at least) and got £600, so that would go nicely towards a shed...

So after a bit more researching, I have unfortunately found the answer I hoped I wouldn't get (on the HSE Gov website):

"No. It is illegal to supply any article containing asbestos, whether for money, or free of charge."

unforeseen

So how do you sell houses that contain asbestos?

TomWoody1979

unforeseen wrote: »

So how do you sell houses that contain asbestos?

Good point. We bought the house with the garage, 14 months ago and the surveyor picked up on it, but I guess if you disclose it it's ok and it's part of something it's ok?!?

A lot of theold sofit /facial we were told might have asbestos in.

glasgowdan

I wonder if that HSE reference relates to businesses rather than homeowners. It's obviously NOT illegal to supply items containing asbestos!

no1catman

Having an asbestos roof is not a problem - as long as it is not disturbed.
My garage is made up of sections of concrete, with sections of corrugated pieces making the roof, I think these 'corrugated sections' could contain asbestos.
I had one half section removed (the other half was made up with a window), and replaced with a door - much easier for access.

Why can't you use the garage as a 'shed'?

nimbo

Talk to you local waste disposal team at the council. When I used to work on the waste line. You had to prebook in a time slot for the dump - the workers at the dump had to wear protective clothing as well as breathing masks and the council provided you TWO sets of red bags to double bag the asbestos into. They closed the dump for a time to other people also. You could not get any more and they would allow you to get rid of around 2 sheets about a4 sized.

For the job you are talking of they would advise you find a specialist company to get rid of the roof and maybe the rest of the garage. £500 seems cheap - my sister had a much higher quote for a garage - which to me didn't seem big. So I would imagine a similar amount to what you are discussing.

Make sure any compnay has a waste carriers license and are covered to safely dispose of asbestos.

Also if you have plans to move it. Go over board with the safety equipment - get proper breathing masks and clothes covers. It will cost you money but it's one of those things you probably don't want to regret paying out for quality.

TomWoody1979

glasgowdan wrote: »

I wonder if that HSE reference relates to businesses rather than homeowners. It's obviously NOT illegal to supply items containing asbestos!

It was under the "Members of the public" section of the website

TomWoody1979

no1catman wrote: »

Having an asbestos roof is not a problem - as long as it is not disturbed.
My garage is made up of sections of concrete, with sections of corrugated pieces making the roof, I think these 'corrugated sections' could contain asbestos.
I had one half section removed (the other half was made up with a window), and replaced with a door - much easier for access.

Why can't you use the garage as a 'shed'?

It's probably a bit too big, although as it comes in sections I could make it smaller. The Mrs is not keen on keeping it at all though, for health & safety reasons and it's not as pretty as a shed?!

unforeseen

nimbo wrote: »

Talk to you local waste disposal team at the council. When I used to work on the waste line. You had to prebook in a time slot for the dump - the workers at the dump had to wear protective clothing as well as breathing masks and the council provided you TWO sets of red bags to double bag the asbestos into. They closed the dump for a time to other people also. You could not get any more and they would allow you to get rid of around 2 sheets about a4 sized.

For the job you are talking of they would advise you find a specialist company to get rid of the roof and maybe the rest of the garage. £500 seems cheap - my sister had a much higher quote for a garage - which to me didn't seem big. So I would imagine a similar amount to what you are discussing.

Make sure any compnay has a waste carriers license and are covered to safely dispose of asbestos.

Also if you have plans to move it. Go over board with the safety equipment - get proper breathing masks and clothes covers. It will cost you money but it's one of those things you probably don't want to regret paying out for quality.

My council make no stipulation on amount t providing they are notified first and it is all double bagged.