Who is responsible for asbestos ceiling removal after roofer damaged it?

[theworldisadarkplace]

My roof was refelted and retiled and in the process the roofer (or a worker) put his foot through my ceiling. Roofer was dubious it was any of his crew (no one admitted to it), but did agree to pay for the repair.
The workman refused to work, saying there was asbestos in the ceiling, which tests have confirmed is correct. The whole ceiling now needs replacing.
Is the cost of removal of asbestos my responsibility as homeowner, or the roofer's?

Thanks to anyone who can answer this.

I think it should be the roofer's, assuming you're confident that it was his crew that damaged the ceiling. But I also suspect you'll be in for a difficult time getting them to pay for it, as I suspect it will be expensive. I would hope they should have insurance, but I don't think you ever really know for this sort of thing.

Who else did the roofer suggest might have put their foot through your ceiling?

I wonder whether this would be an insurance claim, which would possibly end up going against your roofer's insurance either directly or via your insurance?

The roofer suggested it may have been a scaffolder, but the roof would have been intact when they were working. the hole is under the eaves - as the homehowner I physically couldn't stand in that area so it has to have been a roofer working when the tiling and felt was removed.
But he'd originally agreed repairs prior to the asbestos discovery, so that would demonstrate acceptance of liability, I would have thought.
To complicate things further it's a shared roof and the leaseholder says the insurance doesn't cover asbestos.

The roofer is liable they should have liability insurance to cover that. When my DH was a roofer his liability insurance was covered for a couple of million.

The roofer should pay for the repair that puts it back as was, what you are looking for is betterment because you want the whole ceiling done because of the asbestos. Of course the argument is you wouldn't necessarily need to replace the asbestos ceiling if it hadn't been damaged. Tricky.

i would raise they with it with your home insurance and see if they will argue it out with the builder’s insurance.

Are you still living in the property? Because if there's damaged asbestos, I don't think you should be.

It's not the roofer's fault you've got asbestos and he's not obliged to cover cost to remove it. Why would he be? He didn't cause it to be there.

He's obliged to make good the hole in the ceiling to how it was before they booted it in. The fact asbestos was discovered I think unfortunately is your responsibility as the owner of the roof. Or part owner.

The roofer is responsible for remedying the damage. If it can be lawfully repaired then that's what he should do. Sometimes it cannot be repaired safely so the natural consequence of the negligence is that the whole lot needs replacing.

https://www.dartford.gov.uk/environmental-services-1/asbestos#:~:text=Slightly%20damaged%20asbestos%2Dcontaining%20materials,if%20it%20cannot%20be%20protected.