Neighbour wants us to replace garage roof

[imnotyourbitch]

We have an old side garage between our house and our neighbour. They don't have a garage, so while ours goes up to the boundary, theirs was removed many years ago, so they have the width of a garage between ours and their house.
The garage was built at same time as house, in 1950.

The garage has an asbestos roof. We had it checked by the council when we moved in (we were having other work done we needed building regs signed off on), and also had it coated with a protective coating, and we were told that it is perfectly safe as it is. Our long term plan is to have the whole garage replaced as part of a side extension, but that is at least 5 years away.

Our neighbour has cats who climb on the garage roof to sunbathe. (It's slanted, so not entirely flat but not a normal roof shape). They've said they are concerned that the cats claws will disturb the asbestos and cause health issues in the cats, and that we need to replace the roof. And after discussion, they've said they will report us to environmental health if we don't change it.

Technically, we could afford to do it, but it would wipe out all of our savings due to the cost of removal.

We paid for the roof to be coated to make it safer - it wasn't needed but we felt it would be a good thing to do. Neighbour didn't have cats when we moved in. Wiping out our savings would change our plans for the next year, and would also impact our kids hobbies (some of the savings is earmarked for new equipment for it) so we really don't want to throw it all on a roof for a few years. But also, I do get that if her cats claw / scratch at the roof it could put them at risk.

Aaahhhh. Any ideas?

I'm not sure that this request is coming directly from your NDN.
Likelihood is the cats have got wind of the fact that you have an asbestos roof and they have demanded their human servants have this rectified immediately.

I love cats. I also recognise one thing I have learned from MN. No is a complete sentence.

I can't believe you are entertaining the idea. Tell them to go ahead and copy you in the email for the laugh.

I have cats and an asbestos garage too.

Tell them to go ahead and report you and see what Environmental Health have to say. I imagine that'll be the last you hear of it.

I never realised how utterly bonkers so many pet owners are till I came on Mumsnet.

I’m Environmental Health. If your LA has the resources to send someone out they will pop by and check it but as long as there is no damage they won’t/can’t do anything. I’d suggest just have paperwork from coating roof/builder info handy in case they do pop by but I wouldn’t worry about it all. Neighbours are CF’s.

Have you stopped laughing yet? Absolutely batshit 😂

Tell them my cat sunbathed on my neighbours asbestos garage roof for years, exactly as you describe, with no ill effects. They are using the cat as an excuse because they don't like your garage.

You would be mad to spend all that money! Are there no safe methods to keep the cats off the roof? Some sort of paint?

We used to play and climb on our asbestos garage 40 odd years and no one thought anything of it at the time.

I love cats and have my own but I wouldn't pay for this and wipe out my savings after it's been deemed safe. If they are really that worried they can pay to get it changed? However, cats are free roaming and encounter lots of potentially worse dangers than cement asbestos , which isn't even that dangerous. Lily pollen being one - they can't monitor where the cats go and what plants people are growing.

Tell them most of the garages in your street have the same roof and you regularly see her cats lying on them.

I'm trying to picture a domestic cat that would be able to damage a roof enough to cause asbestos to be loos in the air. I know bigger breeds are fashionable but it's hardly the Tiger that came to tea!

Yup. Or say that if they're concerned you'd be happy to replace it at their cost.

So the cat owner wants every roof replaced in a 20 mile radius ? Because some cats wander quite a distance

Just laugh !

If they are so worried about their bloody cats, then they can pay for a new roof.

Can you get some miniature sunloungers to put up there? The cats can reserve them with towels to stop other neighbourhood* *cats from stealing their spot and they will be elevated away from the perfectly safe poisonous roof . You can then charge them rental by the day (via the owners) and put the money towards your extension! Problem solved.

You don't legally need to replace it as long as it's not broken / damaged.

Environmental health won't do anything about it or try and force you to do it.

Tell them to keep their cats off your roof.

This!

I had an Asbestos garage removed about 4 years ago, so prices will have increased a bit, but mine cost £900. The whole garage was Asbestos, and it was slightly larger than average size. The cheapest quote was slightly less, but I had more confidence in the company I used. They did a fantastic, clean, job and all in one morning.
They sent the certificate of disposal with the invoice.
At the time I had heard lots of horror stories about costs and was expecting to pay anything from £1500- £4000, so the actual cost was a relief.

Put chicken wire or wooden trellis on the roof to stop any scratching. No - get THEM to do it!

Honestly not that expensive. We had an asbestos garage roof removed and didn't even have to pay for disposal as in London they take it away for free. The asbestos they are made of is not one of the most dangerous sorts. You can (or could when we did it) remove it yourself (carefully following precautions) but it must be disposed of properly. Ours had to be double wrapped and then they came and took it all away for us.

If he thinks his cats are damaging your property he needs to stop that doesn’t he. Now he’s admitting the damage to you ask him what he intends to do to stop it and compensate you if damage has already occurred?

Thank you everyone. I really, honestly wasn't sure if she had a right to ask this or not (she has history of being CF but is generally a fairly good neighbour).

Off to order little kitty sun loungers for the roof! Her cats are sweeties and we do really like them and even kept a raised area in our garden because the cats like it. And I'm big softie. But I don't like them £3k amount!

@LumpyandBumps

Those corrugated sheets of asbestos cement it that were used for roofs are ok to dispose of in some council waste disposal centres, as long as they're bagged up properly, so possibly cheaper than you'd expect to remove and dispose of.

But yes, there can be huge costs involved with asbestos removal, that's true!

If their cats cause damage resulting in possible asbestos being released then they should be paying for it. It's not your job to fix a roof because they can't control their pet