Possibly disturbed asbestos in the house I want to buy

[cowrice]

I'm in the process of buying a 1970s house, which needs a complete refurbishment. All the ceilings in the house are found to contain white asbestos from the asbestos management survey, and the surveyor found that the kitchen ceiling was damaged. The seller also disclosed that the kitchen ceiling collapsed a long time ago due to a leak in the bathroom above.

Does it mean that the asbestos are already disturbed and the house might be contaminated?

The ceiling of the porch also contains brown asbestos and the painting covering it is loose and slightly damaged. The asbestos testing company recommended "Remove loose paint and apply with an encapsulant paint under asbestos controlled conditions".

It is the only three bed detached house I can afford in a nice area with good schools. However, its floor plan is not good and the garden is narrow and slopes upward from the house. It's a completely different house if I can't remove and add some walls because of the asbestos.

Would you buy the house if you were me?

Have the asbestos removal company provided an estimate of the cost to do all the work. It could be very expensive.

That would make things so complicated! Every little thing you want to do to the house would be affected.
I'd only take it if I was absolutely desperate, but the problems would be ongoing for years unless you had it all stripped out, and selling it will also be a nightmare.

No, I wouldn’t. It would be really hard to sort anything!

I would do as pp says. Get a quote for removal of the asbestos and ask the seller to take that amount off the price. Any buyer will have similar reservations to you. You can only try and see.

That would be for compare removal or it will effect the value of the house when you eventually sell yourself.

The asbestos wouldn't put me off, as a high proportion of houses of that age will contain it - some may be hidden or contained in things you wouldn't imagine.

The layout/garden would put me off though. Will the garden be prone to flooding? Can you realistically afford to do all the things needed to make the house work for you? Renovations are so expensive now. If you can afford it, I'd just add the cost of removing asbestos to the budget (I'd generally just cover/contain it, but might be wise to remove if you're knocking lots of walls down). If your budget is tight, I'd keep looking or accept I couldn't afford the area.

Well I’d guess list price wise you can afford it because of this issue, but if it’s going to cost thousands to fix then ultimately it’s not the bargain it looks like.

I think you need quotes for all the work you’d want doing. See what you’d really be looking at.

In the circumstances you describe, I would walk away. Price alone is not the way to choose a house, and it sounds as if it could need a lot more spending on it — taking it way out of your range.

It’s the sort of thing I worry about a lot so I might not buy it. Having said that, many houses contain white asbestos in the ceilings and I think the risk for that type is low. Also, there are many houses with new ceilings that have the old ceilings concealed, so it would be difficult to be sure. The porch ceiling sounds the worst. If I bought it I would want to get the work done before moving in.

I would probably still buy it if I really loved it but only if I was getting it at a price that reflected the cost of the removal of all the asbestos and reinstatements.
I wouldn't want to be forever thinking about it being there. "Made safe" or not.

My Dad died of Mesothelioma last year OP. Either budget to get the work done before you move in (and ideally before you spend any further time there), or find somewhere else. Believe me, it's not worth running any risks here.

This really.

I'd probably want a new porch tbh. I'd rather have no asbestos than concealed asbestos, if feasible. I'm not a fan of hiding problems.

The garden would worry me.

I think I'd rather live in a semi or terrace with a good layout, than an asbestos riddled detached with a flood-promoting garden.

A lot of people don't realise (me included until 2 months ago) that artexed ceilings that predate the 90's often/usually contain asbestos. We're going through the same process on our purchase as bedroom ceilings are artexed- my working assumption is that it does contain it and we'll either have to live with it or pay to remove it. It's not a massive issue for us as we are not planning to reconfigure but for you you will have to remove if you want to reconfigure so get a quote for removal and go from there.

However, if the kitchen ceiling collapsed years ago it's unlikely that the asbestos spores are still floating around but maybe ask the asbestos experts to confirm.

@cowrice the house comes with a lot of concerns and I would personally want all the asbestos removed so that needs to be priced in.

I understand we’re all different but seeing as you have asked for opinions, I would prefer to buy a semi detached house than a detached house with all those compromises & concerns. Refurbishing it is likely to more expensive than you think, as everyone seems to find unless they have relatives in the building trade.

I'd always be scared in that house so I wouldn't buy it.

I'm probably pathetic though.

But every time I had the cold I'd be thinking is it coz of the asbestos even though I had it treated or removed or whatever. I'd have The Fear.

Thank you all for your comments. I've obtained a quote to remove all asbestos found in the management survey and reinstate all the ceilings and asked for a reduction in price accordingly. The seller agreed. However, I'd need to do a refurbishment survey to find out the locations of all the asbestos in the house before doing the renovation, so I'm still worried that it would cost more if there are asbestos hidden in places that can't be inspected during the management survey, maybe under the kitchen floor tiles.

I didn't realise I need to budget for all the repairs work before making the offer. The electrical system is 50 years old, I'd rewire the house if my budget allows. The surveyor told me the boiler is at the end of its life and the flat roof might need to be replaced too (at least the felt). All these repair works and removing the asbestos etc would cost at least 30k, but I've only budgeted 60k for the refurbishment.

I notice that the seller has installed a French drain, but I'm not sure whether it's enough to prevent flooding.

I think I'd probably need to look at other areas.

I'm sorry for your loss . I'm considering to pull out of the purchase as I have a child.

I agree. I also didn't realise how common this is in houses built earlier than the 80s. We have made the same decision - not testing or disturbing the artex ceilings in our new house. It's more complicated if you want to reconfigure straightaway though, and if there are signs of damage in any of the ceilings.

I'd walk away

Asbestos is not spores it's a kind of rock that splinters in a way that damages your cells, so leaving it for a while doesn't reduce the danger if it's disturbed.

Sorry- spores was a bad choice of word. What I meant was , if the ceiling was artexed but it collapsed a number of years ago and was replaced at that time, the danger from disturbed asbestos was when it collapsed, not now. It doesn’t stay in the atmosphere indefinitely.

In all honesty, no I wouldn’t. If in all other respects it was my dream home, then maybe, at a price which reflected all the necessary remedial (removal) work, but it doesn’t sound as though it is your dream home? One of my ds and partner had a nightmare sorting out their asbestos contaminated home. Once you know it’s there, if you know anything at all about how toxic it can be, you can’t just live with it.

I'd really love to live in a detached house because I play musical instruments. Apart from the floor plan and the garden, I don't like the house being dark because it's built on a slope and one of the fences is higher than the house.

I'd walk away OP. I recently pulled out of a house purchase due to asbestos which has been disturbed. I have a one year old, and just didn't want to take the risk x