Survey found damaged asbestos in roof

80sRozi

I'm a first time buyer in the process of buying a 1970s end terrace. The survey has found significant issues with the roof, the lining paper is degraded and flaking (and potentially contains asbestos), and the insulation is poorly fitted causing condensation/damp.

I've asked the seller to either undertake an asbestos survey or agree to us booking one so that we can understand the extent of the problem and potential repair cost but so far they have ignored requests from my solicitor. I don't think they will agree to it even if I pay for it. I don't want to pull out but equally don't want to pay top market rate when facing potentially significant repair bills so I want to negotiate.

Any advice on what I can do in this situation and how to go about getting quotes with very limited information? Would you negotiate based on worst case scenario?

Niv

An asbestos survey generally identifies the asbestos in the building but not the cost of removal. That would normally be a separate job as normally surveyors are not trained to quote for repairs / removals.

A survey will tell you where the asbestos is and condition (generally, it wont find all) but does require the taking of samples which = damage so the seller may not want that either.

You only mention the roofing felt - is this the only item you believe may be asbestos? Is it a thick, friable tarry type material? If asbestos it would be around 85% asbestos and probably quite obvious but also easily tested. If this is the only item of concern I imagine the seller would be more amenable to that being sampled and tested (more amenable if you pay ofc).

80sRozi

I understand that the asbestos survey won't quote cost of repair - I meant that I need this to get accurate quotes in the first place as I don't have enough information to provide companies so I'm getting huge ranges.

The surveyor described the lining material as flaky which I assume is friable. The ceilings are likely to be artex but I am not worried about them as they don't appear to be damaged. The seller (or their solicitor) hasn't responded to the request for 3 weeks despite being chased and me offering to pay for the survey. 

I think I need to start negotiating on the offer but I'm not really sure how to go about it when I can't get quotes due to lack of information. Any advice on this?

sacvwgolf

If you can't investigate further then I guess the best you can do is reduce your offer by an average of the quotes (perhaps a bit higher than average to cover yourselves) but say the vendor is more than welcome to reject the reduced offer if they are willing to investigate themselves. You'll certainly get a reply then. Of course you'd have to trust the vendor investigating this properly. You've done as much as you can without help from the vendor.

This problem won't go away just because the vendor is ignoring it. If you ultimately decide to walk away, the next surveyor will only highlight the problem again to the new buyers.