To be upset and angry over this?

[householdprobs]

I moved into my council home in 2011 so around 8 years ago. When I moved in I asked the council if there was an asbestos in the house ( it's a 1935 house) and I was given a survey from sample homes of the same time in my area. I looked at the report in my email and then just forgot about it. Then today i was trying to email the housing and find the address in my email as I was searching that email with report came up, I forgot about it over the years but referred back to it today. He report said that the asbestos is present in some tiles and on a sink pad. I was aware in my kitchen floor when I moved in there was some tiles of some sort so I just put ceramic tiles over them but the tiles that were in when I moved in were not in Great condition they were cracking on the edges. But I just left it. Then I checked under the sink thinking surely they wouldn't have left the sink in from decades ago with an asbestos sink pad on!!! I was told when I moved in this was a new kitchen because the last owner let the previous one go to a mess. Low and behind o check and that sink pad is still there !!! Asbestos was banned from 1984 so this kitchen has been in this house since before 1984 and they couldn't even Been bothered to change the sink in all that time!! I'm so angry and upset. This kitchen is disgusting ! All they do is screw cupboards back on. And also the tiles are worrying me now as well. They knew about these asbestos products but didn't inform me UNTILL I enquired yet they are aware of them ! Imagine I started to rip up the tiles to put my own on and didn't know, it's a good job I just out mine in top. I'm worried now because after pulling up the grip between living room and kitchen I could see the tiles some parts handing off.

@SoupDragon

She’s already bodged the job by laying one layer of tiles on top of another. Now she ‘fancies a change’

So why, having been concerned enough about asbestos to ask for a report, did you not ask the council to deal with your “damaged” asbestos tiles?

You didn’t ask for them to be removed. You did a botch job with your own tiles.

And now you’re moaning that you’ll have to pay for certificates that:
(a) you haven’t actually been asked to pay for and
(b) are there to protect you and the council from the sort of shitty job you did with the tiles

Yep, entitled is right.

The only one with double standards here is you!

To be fair to the OP, I doubt that the average 22 year old would understand that you don’t just lay tiles on tiles. (that said, the internet is a wonderful thing)

But that’s exactly why the council want to know about some proposed changes, and for some works require certificates.

Why should taxpayers fork out their hard-earned money for your new tiles?

Um, how exactly is it taxpayers money? Have I missed something?

Well, the OP doesn’t want to fork out her own money, as she puts it. I don’t know where she expects the money to come from.

And where is the money coming from? Why do you think it's from taxpayers?

You really need to calm down. Not all asbestos is a bit great to you. Asbestos is only dangerous when certain kinds of asbestos fibers are inhaled (this can cause a begnin condition called plueral plaques or it can cause a very serious illness called mesothelioma). There are asbestos fibres present in the air in most places anyway at very low concentrations. This is unlikely to cause either cobdition and is called background level. Having asbestos in your house will not affect the background level because the fibres are contained. It only becomes an issue when some types of asbestos products are disturbed (mostly during construction work). Asbestos tiles are usually completely safe because they do not release fibers when they break as are many of the asbestos products used in bathrooms and kitchens. There was a case I read a while back that is very similar to your situation. I read a case while back called Lugay v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham [2017] EWHC 1823 which you can read for a factual analysis. It is unlikely that you are even remotely in danger. I understand where you are coming from but it’s a position of ignorance. The asbestos in your house is most likely harmless.

@gammerchick where do you think councils get money from? A tree? A magic pot at the end of a rainbow?

Councils get money for houses from rent. There are no mortgages on millions of houses and the government stopped taking a cut of the surplus years ago. The only thing the almighty taxpayer pays in is in the form of housing benefit which I would hazard a guess costs more on the private market.

Did you think money gets pumped in from the magic money tree provided by taxpayers?

Would you be able to fit a new kitchen without needing plumbing, electrical work and possibly gas work? It isn't usually just a matter of fitting new cupboards.

If it is just changing the cupboard doors - you should be ok to do that but if you're looking for work that requires certification, I think it is right that the council insist it is done by qualified tradesmen.

I don't think 8 years is long for a kitchen floor to last, ours is 10 years old & we don't have any plans to change it.

@gamerchick

Beats me why you’re trying to defend someone so entitled.

If the OP wants the tiles replaced and doesn’t want to ‘fork out’ where is the money coming from?

No I agree with you there, the OP is making a lot of assumptions when you can change the fittings in a council house if you want. However if the tiles have asbestos then she's perfectly entitled to want them removed so she can change them. It's not her house, why should she fork out for the asbestos team? Personally I would wait until the better homes thing comes to her area, a phone call might find that out.

What I object to is people going all king fu like council houses are the taxpayers property and people should be grateful for a roof over their head when it's bugger all to do with them.

Taxpayers don't pay for SH, just like council houses aren't twatting free.

Totally agree with you gamerchick that taxpayers aren’t paying for this.

Also agree that the council should pay to remove the tiles if they’re a hazard.

However, I don’t see why the council should pay for the additional time the asbestos team might need because of OP’s botched tile job on top. Or at all, if the only reason the asbestos team is needed, is because the OP creates the hazare with her DIY by removing her botch job.

And of course nobody has actually asked OP to pay anything yet.

Nobody is saying they are

Where does the council get the money from to pay?

When we moved to our current house the stench pipe was asbestos. We had to pay for it to be replaced. Not a problem as it was for our well being. Who does OP think is responsible for replacing the asbestos in her house?

You can change the fittings in a council house if you want. However if the tiles have asbestos then she's perfectly entitled to want them removed so she can change them. It's not her house

So it’s her house when she wants any old cowboy builder in to fix up a new kitchen, or fix new tiles on top of old ones, but suddenly the council’s responsibility when there are problems directly arising from her choice to do these things?

You'd have to be breathing in asbestos dust for quite a while before it would cause any health issues. You're welcome to private rent or buy your own property if your council house isn't up to your standards though you know.

@thegardenfairy

The old tiles don’t necessarily need replacing. They were cracked. She then affixed new tiles over the old because she didn’t know what she was doing. A few years down the line and the newer ones are also cracked, she fancies a change, and is suddenly up in arms that the old tiles contain asbestos. They never bothered her before and don’t present a danger, but removing them may be tricky because of the bodge job she did. Apparently it’s the council’s problem though?

The kitchen would have been replaced under the decent homes scheme if it was old at the time the scheme was carried out (started 2000's).

@MrsAriadneOliver are you actually serious?? No one is asking for anyone to put me done new tiles in I'll pay for that myself ! Can you read???? I said I want the council to remove asbestos tiles that are dangerous in my kitchen because they are cracked that they left in which makes them liable!! Your talking so much garbage! No one asked for new tiles!

@MrsAriadneOliver why can't I lay my own tiles? That I paid for! No one in the world would live in in a house won asbestos tiles uncovered. No one! And it's the councils responsibility to make sure asbestos tiles are kept safe, they haven't

So people are saying I should have
A) lived with asbestos tiles in my kitchen and not bother to put my own in so live with ugly cracked asbestos tiles
B) if I want to put my own tiles in then I need to to pay for asbestos tiles to be removed at my own expense when it's 'not my house'
I would have tot ask the council if I can remove them anyway, and what makes you think they will agree. The council were lazy to leave them in. They could have took them out when the property was empty before I moved in. Why would you think it's acceptable to leave something dangerous in a house and expect a TENANT to deal with it!

Did you ask the council to remove the cracked asbestos tiles eight years ago before you put your own over?