We are going to view a property which has an asbestos roof. Has anyone had experience of getting a professional company into remove it and roughly the cost per m2. Puy du Dome region. Is it even a stupid idea to consider purchasing such a property. All coments and advise welcomex. Thank you
Should you like the property merely ask for a clause suspensive in the compromis that the asbestos roof is replaced.
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Our commune is arranging for the asbestos roofing on the garage of a council house… to be removed and safe stuff put in its place.
I can ask some questions about who does this and how much it costs… would be useful to have some info I reckon… as yours will not be the only property with asbestos…
and, YES, preferably get a clause suspensive about the having the asbestos replaced with safe stuff by the professionals before completion of the sale… your notaire will understand all about the gravity of this.
Personally I wouldn’t touch it. We bought a house 22 years ago in the UK only to find after purchase that there was a void under the floor and all of the heating pipes were covered in asbestos. There was also a long pipe in the loft, which had been conveniently covered by a carpet that was lagged with asbestos. It cost then £12k to have it all removed and we had to sue our surveyor. 2 years and much stress later we settled out of court, we were lucky because one sentence, ’ the pipes are well lagged’ sealed the surveyors fate.
Although you know the asbestos is there the removal is complex involving air filters and readings to check no nasty fibres are floating about. You have to trust the company removing it, we had no choice you do.
Fair comment Teresa… but asbestos can be safely removed by those specially trained to do so… The Council would not be undertaking something that was unsafe… there are people living in the council house and it is their safety that is at risk if the roofing starts deteriorating… (as I understand it)… hence the Council will be using professionals to do “a proper job”.
There is no reason why the asbestos cannot be safely removed on the property that @Issy is talking about… depending on circumstance about which we have no details or control… it may be more or less of a minefield… but the professionals will be able to tackle things. If the clause suspensive includes the need for complete removal, making safe and replacing with proper (whatever)… there really should be no problem…
But, I do agree that it is sometimes better to walk away from what might become an administrative/safety nightmare… which might or might not end happily.
My mum has asbestos on her garage roof and the advise she received is as long as it’s in good condition leave it alone. If it’s a council house then the Mairie will oversee the process and have some clout. Also a garage is not a room one spends much time in.
What I will say is if I had known about the asbestos in our house and been given the option of safe removal before purchase I still wouldn’t have bought the house. The worst thing was having to pay vat on the apparent luxury of safeguarding the health of our family!
Also if the whole roof is asbestos then there may be more elsewhere. I read about a couple where every single wall in there house had been clad in asbestos and they didn’t win their claim against the surveyor. They couldn’t sell the house and they couldn’t afford to have the asbestos removed. It made me realise how fortunate we were.
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