Asbestos in your home? Get free legal advice!

Questioner

We have been living on an old farmhouse since 20118. All parts are occupied: former cowshed = living room, on the ground floor of the former pigsty are 3 bedrooms. The attics are used for storage etc. Under the roof tiles of the pigsty are asbestos plates, between the frame of the beams and the tiles. Now I read on the government website, if asbestos plates are used as insulation and fire-resistant material, they do not fall under the new law, that all asbestos must be removed before 2014. We would love to hear your advice.

Lawyer

Whether you need to remove materials containing asbestos in and around the house depends on the condition and type of asbestos. If the asbestos is fixed in the material and nothing is done with it, you do not need to remove it. Is it not fixed? Then you must shield it or have it removed.

Questioner

Thank you for your answer. The asbestos is tightly between the vertical, old, roof trusses and the roof tiles. If the asbestos had to be removed, this could only be done by first removing the roof tiles, from the outside. From the inside, the asbestos sheets cannot be removed in their entirety, only in pieces. They are stuck between the roof beams. You can see them. The roof is covered with tiles and is undamaged. So no outside air reaches the asbestos plates. Furthermore, it is an attic space, where only things are stored. As I see it as a layman, I conclude from your explanation that the asbestos plates are stuck in the material. Is that correct? I could send a picture, or is that not necessary.