Should solicitor check for asbestos?

HampshireH

Surveys are a buyers responsibility to seek out and to what level.

Your solicitor isn't in a position to do that. You could have asked the council yourself

As previous posters have mentioned all ok. Unless broken or disturbed.

Many trades are trained/happy working on artex. You will find some which arent.

Different if your boiler sits on an insulation board which is asbestos.

elsien

What type of survey did you commission and what did they say about it? I'd expect the surveyor to be the expert here, or signposting you to further tests, not the solicitor.

System

HampshireH wrote: »

Your solicitor isn't in a position to do that. You could have asked the council yourself.

And here I don't agree. As a first time buyer I had no idea what I should be doing on top of what surveyors and solicitors were doing. This is something I'd expect to be advised on.

da_rule

foch wrote: »

And here I don't agree. As a first time buyer I had no idea what I should be doing on top of what surveyors and solicitors were doing. This is something I'd expect to be advised on.

Well you may not agree but that doesn't make you right.

The solicitor does not visit the building, does not know the construction type and is also unlikely to know when the building was built. The legal title shows the route of the title which can easily pre or post date the construction dates of any buildings on the land by many years.

The only people who tend to visit the property during the process are they buyer and their surveyor.

Your solicitor works for you (and also your lender). Therefore if neither of you made him/her aware that you were concerned about asbestos then how would they know? As has been said, asbestos is very common and only an issue when works are undertaken.

If you were that concerned you should have commissioned a more in-depth survey.

The solicitor is there to advise you on legal issues, not to generally hold your hand.

Lungboy

foch wrote: »

want to run central heating as everything's running on electricity.

foch wrote: »

Scottish Gas believed there's some used in the boiler which is ancient.

These two seem contradictory.

System

Lungboy wrote: »

These two seem contradictory.

How? You think in flats where there's no gas there's no boiler? :T

System

da_rule wrote: »

Well you may not agree but that doesn't make you right.
If you were that concerned you should have commissioned a more in-depth survey.

If you decide to reply, how about you start from reading questions and replies with understanding? As I said, I'm a first time buyer. At the time I obviously did not know about asbestos, as mentioned in my previous comments. There is no need to patronise me just because I'm not an expert.

da_rule

foch wrote: »

If you decide to reply, how about you start from reading questions and replies with understanding? As I said, I'm a first time buyer. At the time I obviously did not know about asbestos, as mentioned in my previous comments. There is no need to patronise me just because I'm not an expert.

We all understand what you're saying.

You're looking for someone to blame because you, having visited the property and having read the survey reports, did not ask questions about asbestos.

Robin9

"Boiler" is the term which generally means a wall (or floor) mounted and gas fuelled providing heating and hot water.

societys_child

I'm no expert either, but I never expected my solicitor to get his ladder out and don his boiler suit to check for asbestos.


That's what surveyors are for, but even surveyors don't know, and advise on further surveys if it bothers you. Who's fault is it if you didn't commission the correct surveys?



Clue: It's no one else's . . take some responsibility . .