Offer on house with asbestos

andy1_p

I made an offer on a property £10,000 under the asking price. I'm just waiting to hear if it is accepted. The house is likely to have asbestos throughout, according to my own research. Is the seller obliged to say if it has asbestos and what would be the best way of handling it? I'm seriously considering pulling out. I would of course get the full homebuyers report but would be around £200 just to confirm my suspicions.

Doozergirl

How and why have you decided it has asbestos throughout and in what way would a homebuyer's report be of use?

There aren't many houses that have dangerous asbestos 'throughout'.

lincroft1710

Perhaps it's a one of those prefabs made of asbestos cement sheets?

unforeseen

If the seller has never had a suspicion when doing work or had any tests done then they are not obliged to say or even guess. That is why you get a survey.

HampshireH

You would need to get an asbestos survey to confirm.

Not sure what the problem is though. Unless its all broken........

Unlikely for the house to be full of Insulation panels. Maybe some boxing, porch ceiling, door panels but highly unusual for them to be making up the fabric of walls and ceilings.

A bit of artex isn't the end of the world and definitely not worth losing a house over.

Next time probably best doing the research before putting an offer in so not to mess the seller around

Robin9

andy1_p wrote: »

I made an offer on a property £10,000 under the asking price. I'm just waiting to hear if it is accepted. The house is likely to have asbestos throughout, according to my own research. Is the seller obliged to say if it has asbestos and what would be the best way of handling it? I'm seriously considering pulling out. I would of course get the full homebuyers report but would be around £200 just to confirm my suspicions.

Every house prior to about 2000 will have some asbestos in it - from the kitchen sink to floor tiles , artex ceilings and the boiler. It isn't a problem.

capital0ne

Robin9 wrote: »

Every house prior to about 2000 will have some asbestos in it - from the kitchen sink to floor tiles , artex ceilings and the boiler. It isn't a problem.

Absolutely right - check out this on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asbestos_pix/albums

Who remembers Kent cigarettes and their Micronite filters with blue asbestos in it for a cooler smoke, how about baby bottle heaters lined with asbestos cloth, asbestos teatowels, asbestus ironing board covers, rawlplug type plugs moulded into shape by your fingers that you licked, artificial snow, insulation granules you used in your loft.

Looking back on all of this it's amazing anyone survived the last century!

Davesnave

andy1_p wrote: »

I made an offer on a property £10,000 under the asking price. I'm just waiting to hear if it is accepted. The house is likely to have asbestos throughout, according to my own research. Is the seller obliged to say if it has asbestos and what would be the best way of handling it? I'm seriously considering pulling out. I would of course get the full homebuyers report but would be around £200 just to confirm my suspicions.

It's plain from what you've written that you're either very bad at explaining your 'suspicions' about an exceptional house, or you don't yet have a clue about the real world levels of risk asbestos might pose in different forms.

I'd suggest you do more research before making shaky offers, potentially messing other people about, or organise a specialist asbestos survey first, so that you don't need to rely on your own or the vendor's level of knowledge.

ACG

Andy, a homebuyers report would not really state asbestos, it would more likely suggest it could be asbestos and to get further tests if needed.

You can get an asbestos survey carried out but that will likely cost more than £200 if you think it is in a few places.

Almost every house in the country built before 2000 will have some form of asbestos in it. You are probably going to find the estate agents tell the vendor to leave the property on the market if that is your reason for negotiation.

It will cost you thousands to remove and replace it so if a £200 survey is an issue, what will you do if it is found? They are not going to knock £10k off the purchase price so you can pay for asbestos removal.

You might be better buying something built in the last 15 years if it is a major concern of yours.

Catkei

We're just in the process of buying a 1970s terrace that has artex on the ceiling which probably contains asbestos and to be honest, I'm not bothered. Like others have already said, most houses in the UK will contain some asbestos. Unless you go for new build?

andy1_p

Yes, it's one of those post-war prefab houses and has artex ceilings and walls along with concrete ground floor.