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Author Topic: Asbestos Under Turf in Garden  (Read 4673 times)

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HatchetHarry

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Asbestos Under Turf in Garden
« on: November 08, 2020, 08:26:41 pm »
Hi - first time caller, long time listener...

Moved into our new build home in February. Smallish local builder (subcontracted to hell), 25 houses on the site.

Have been contesting the depth of our topsoil since we moved in as a result of a snagging survey we had done.
Builder won't have any of it, so the developer has intervened and had a geotechnical survey carried out.
Surveyor has taken 4 samples to a depth of 200mm. One of the samples has been flagged as it contains a piece of broken off asbestos sheet, at a guess about 100mm x 50mm.

I am extremely unhappy about this, as the developer has said that although a full site survey was carried out prior to building (with no asbestos found in our part of the site), he has said that some asbestos sheets were found area the same area during the building stage, which they paid someone to remove. Clearly the asbestos was either not fully removed, or it was just spread under our garden. The developer has said that he will now get an asbestos survey in the localised area to where asbestos has been found and remove where required.

Should I be getting legal advice in this situation? It seems like massive negligence to me on behalf of the developer. Any advice would be greatly received!


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Re: Asbestos Under Turf in Garden
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2020, 12:06:55 pm »
What you have is probably a piece that was broken off a full sheet during clearance.
To be honest, the asbestos cement materials, are made of the least dangerous (white Chrysotile asbestos). It is perfectly harmless until the sheet gets broken and fibres enter the air.  Very unlikely (but possible) to cause harm in the open air.

Topsoil is an issue with new homes as it is usually not deep enough and contaminated with clay.
Builders also leave their debris under "topsoil" even though it is a requirement of the NHBC standards to remove it.
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Tim Fee Snagging Inspector

HatchetHarry

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Re: Asbestos Under Turf in Garden
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2021, 10:52:11 am »
This is still an ongoing issue which the developer is dragging their feet on. We had an asbestos survey done, which didn't find anything, however they only took very small soil samples to try an identify asbestos fibres. Meanwhile I took to the corner of the garden with a shovel and was able to pull up multiple more pieces of asbestos sheet within the first small patch of grass I pulled up. Pieces range in size from 10mmx10mm to 100mmx100mm.

With young kids in the house, I feel like we can not let them play in the garden at present, as their first inclination is to get down and dirty in the mucky garden.

We've also got the other small issue of a joist which has been fixed 28mm lower than other joists which has resulted in a very large dip in the upstairs floor.  :(

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Re: Asbestos Under Turf in Garden
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2021, 12:36:09 pm »
The now obvious asbestos and a 28mm out of line floor joist must be dealt with by the housebuilder.
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HatchetHarry

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Re: Asbestos Under Turf in Garden
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2021, 05:01:01 pm »
Me again. Boring and probably somewhat predictable update on the house we bought from an investment company;

- Builder(not who we bought from or have a contact with) ceased doing any work on our house an snags due to the developer(Guernsey based investment company) not making final payment for the construction of our road and house. They did very little in the first instance anyway.
- Builder won court case against investment company due to a pay now, haggle later clause.
- Investment company went into liquidation as they couldn't be bothered to have to stump up money to fix and then take the builder back to court.

So we're now left with asbestos in the garden, very sloped floors due to a badly installed joist and about 100 other snags. Cost to fix has been quoted at £50,000 +vat. Warranty provider (AHCI) are saying they won't cover us as the joist doesn't make the house "structurally unsound". I've got a structural engineer coming over next week to write a report. If they don't deem it as structurally unsound, then I'm basically at a dead end.

Fun fact though, I've essentially bought this house from Jenson Button. His manager, Richard Goddard is the owner/directory of the investment company we bought from and appear to just move Jensons money around the different Cayman offshore companies/accounts.

I guess this just further confirms that we really need a new homes ombudsman. I guess also a lesson learnt in buying a house from a throwaway ltd company also!

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Re: Asbestos Under Turf in Garden
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2021, 09:35:28 am »
Perhaps you should approach Jenson Button direct. Twitter would be good for this.
I can see a whole host of national newspapers who would probably cover your story as it shows how greed of the rich affects ordinary hard working people.
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