Home insurance for house with asbestos tiles

jason_zz

Hi all,

I thought I'd post both to make known what I just found out and also in case anyone can let me know whether I'm doing the right thing.

We bought a four-bedroom house, dating from 1890, in 2017, which we knew to have tiles on the roof that probably contain asbestos.  I'm aware that this is pretty safe as I am not eating off my roof or anything like that.  The tiles are a long way from me, in the open air, and I'm not tampering with them.  We had part of that old roof replaced (the part over the kitchen/bathroom at the back) as it looked like it was gonna start to leak.  We also added a slate-roof extension in place of an existing conservatory, which expanded the proportion of slate on the roof.  At the moment the house has, I would say, a bit over a third of the roof covered in those asbestos tiles; a bit less than a third that's a flat-roof dormer (and I don't know what that has on top, as I can't get up there); and about a third slate (i.e. the re-done part, plus the new extension).

What I hadn't anticipated was that when we mentioned asbestos, insurers would not offer us house insurance.  Eventually I found a company called Highworth and we paid them in 2017 £516.86 (including family legal and emergency cover).  I thought that was a lot, but despite us making no claims it has only gone up, and this year the bill was for £742.94.  So I looked again and found that Hastings Direct would insure us for £310.99.  I selected 'Asbestos' from the drop-down for main roof material and they accepted this.  I called to confirm and the person on the phone said that what I had done was correct.  This unnerves me as of course, technically, asbestos is not actually the main material.  It is more accurate to say: the largest proportion of the roof using a single type of covering is tiles that probably contain 10-15% (asbestos tiles).  Not pure asbestos!  If you were to grind up my whole roof (argh, the thought of it) then there wouldn't be a high proportion of asbestos in the resulting mix at all.

So - firstly, Hastings Direct seem okay with an asbestos roof.  People might like to know that.  And secondly, am I doing the right thing, selecting asbestos as the main roof covering?

Jason

user1977

I would interpret "asbestos" as meaning the main component of the roofing material. "Tiles which contain a small amount of asbestos" are "tiles", unless there is some more specific question (which I've never seen an example of) asking about any known asbestos content.

jason_zz

user1977 said:

I would interpret "asbestos" as meaning the main component of the roofing material. "Tiles which contain a small amount of asbestos" are "tiles", unless there is some more specific question (which I've never seen an example of) asking about any known asbestos content.

Thanks for the reply.  Confusingly, from the reading that I have done, there isn't such a thing as a roof made only of asbestos; roofs are made of asbestos cement, i.e. mostly cement with some asbestos mixed in.  So in that case no one would ever select asbestos from the insurer's list, as truly asbestos roofs don't exist.  E.g. I was looking at hse.gov.uk/asbestos/building.htm (and the reference to the asbestos cement roof at point R).  The question that I was answering is 'What's the roof made from?' (I went back to the Hastings Direct quotation form to check).

Obviously I'd prefer cheaper insurance, but I don't want to be in a position where I try to make a claim and the insurer says I filled in the form wrong.  And 'cement' isn't on the list; 'tile' is, but tile isn't a substance.  Saying that my roof is made from tiles seems very odd to me.  But then I am very pedantic.  Maybe I am more pedantic than the insurance form?

diystarter7

jason_zz said:

user1977 said:

I would interpret "asbestos" as meaning the main component of the roofing material. "Tiles which contain a small amount of asbestos" are "tiles", unless there is some more specific question (which I've never seen an example of) asking about any known asbestos content.

Thanks for the reply.  Confusingly, from the reading that I have done, there isn't such a thing as a roof made only of asbestos; roofs are made of asbestos cement, i.e. mostly cement with some asbestos mixed in.  So in that case no one would ever select asbestos from the insurer's list, as truly asbestos roofs don't exist.  E.g. I was looking at hse.gov.uk/asbestos/building.htm (and the reference to the asbestos cement roof at point R).  The question that I was answering is 'What's the roof made from?' (I went back to the Hastings Direct quotation form to check).

Obviously I'd prefer cheaper insurance, but I don't want to be in a position where I try to make a claim and the insurer says I filled in the form wrong.  And 'cement' isn't on the list; 'tile' is, but tile isn't a substance.  Saying that my roof is made from tiles seems very odd to me.  But then I am very pedantic.  Maybe I am more pedantic than the insurance form?

Hi OP

I see your plight, ie bit like me over worry and then get hit for it.

If you are still unsure, give the outfit a call.

I think the ref to abstos roof is like the ones on old garages and lean-too type extensions/conservatories.

I hope its all sorted by 4pm

Good luck

jason_zz

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I see your plight, ie bit like me over worry and then get hit for it.

If you are still unsure, give the outfit a call.

I think the ref to abstos roof is like the ones on old garages and lean-too type extensions/conservatories.

I hope its all sorted by 4pm

Good luck

Thanks.  I did call them - twice.    I am not sure if it was the same guy both times.  The second one said that he hadn't heard of asbestos being in roof tiles... which is not encouraging.  He also implied that it didn't matter too much what I put for the roof (I forget his exact words).  Both said that if I have put asbestos and received a quotation, then I can go ahead and I am covered.

I also got the impression online that those garage roofs - I know what you mean, the corrugated ones - aren't 100% asbestos either. But you are right, they seem to be more commonly known about,.

I think that Highworth were clearer about this, but I don't think there is a need for me to spend £740 on the insurance.  I did buy the Hastings Direct one but it should still be cancellable as I don't need it for another fortnight.

It's odd that no one seems to know about this for sure, as asbestos cement tiles were still being used a few decades ago and there must be lots out there.