Asbestos roof!

quantumlobster

"Oh hai, we bought your house a few months ago. Is the garage roof asbestos?"

"No idea. Don't call this number again, thanks."

^^ OP - for next time.

Davesnave

Jofisher wrote: »

..because of this this mistake it cost us a lot of money as they felt it was unfit and dangerous and we had sold them the house under false pretences.

No, if it really happened, the mistake you made was not checking out the lie you were told. You could have checked it here, or with your solicitor.

maisie_cat

It could be argued that if the roof is not asbestos, the money was obtained under false pretences. You could ask for it back as the roof was clearly okay. At the same time you could remind them that making a false declaration on the sellers forms is an offence. They may decide that the risk of you telling a buyer what they did to you is too high and give you the money back.

Jofisher

They went through a solicitor.

AnotherJoe

Meaningless. You got a letter that scared you and caved in.
. Unless you want to get involved in legal action, for example you could take small claims court action saying you'd paid to have an asbestos roof removed by the home owner and it hasn't been, Write it off to experience.

HampshireH

You should have agreed to pay for the removal and new roof on appointment of an agreed contractor. You could have paid the contractor directly.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Unless you have a contract which specifically states something like;

Contractor A will remove and replace the roof on the building at X address on X day of the week/month/year as agreed by Party A and Party B and that the funds paid will be solely for the payment of Contractor A for the defined works. The works was carries out will conclude this matter.

You will be hard pushed arguing you didnt pay them compensation....even with something like the above then you would still have an uphill battle.. hopefully you have a copy of all the associated paperwork.

Is it worth it?

Jofisher

MAybe but it’s the principal. The stress and hassle they caused us and we truly didn’t realise the roof was asbestos and then not to do anything at all. The lady was pregnant at the time and was claiming it was a health risk. It just makes me angry.

Jofisher

We wanted to ask for a contractor etc but the more letters going to and fro solicitors the more it was costing and we didn’t have the money. We just settled thinking they would replace the roof due to the drama they were causing.

AdrianC

Oh, it's about the _principle_...?

Right, then definitely abandon all rationality and sense of proportion. Persecute them! All the way to the Supreme Court! The European Court of Human Rights!

It'll cost you years of your life, hundreds of thousands of pounds, probably your marriage and sanity... BUT IT'S THE PRINCIPLE!

AnotherJoe

I believe if you also were using a solicitor you have a claim agaisnt them for negligence since they should have advised you to do nothing. Literally, nothing.