Liability for Asbestos in Your Home

Questioner

Dear reader, We bought a house in January 2015. The house was built in 1978. The accompanying questionnaire filled in by the previous occupants states that there are no asbestos-containing materials in the house. In the chimney flue there are plates (in sight) that look suspiciously like asbestos plates. We have searched the internet for possible costs for an investigation to see if it is actually asbestos and for the possible removal of the asbestos plates. These costs are very high. Can we recover these costs from the previous residents? I look forward to receiving a response. Kind regards

Lawyer

Whether the buyer can hold the seller of a home containing asbestos liable for the damage (for example, remediation costs, depreciation) depends on many things. In case law, very different rulings can therefore be found. Increasing elements of seller's liability The chance that the seller is liable increases if one or more of the following elements apply: -there is unbound asbestos (sprayed asbestos); -there is brown or blue asbestos (more dangerous than white asbestos); -the asbestos is located in more than one place in the home; -the asbestos is located in places where it is less likely to be present; -the asbestos is located in places that are frequently worked on. The 'mirror image' of what has just been said is of course also the case. So the less or none of the above elements are present, the less likely the seller of the house is liable. But there are more aspects that play a role in the question of whether the seller is liable. For example, the content of the purchase agreement must be examined. What is stipulated in the purchase agreement about possible defects and more specifically about asbestos? Are there guarantees included?, or clauses that exclude liability? Furthermore, it is important whether the seller has fulfilled his duty to inform and whether the buyer has fulfilled his duty to investigate. In the buyer's duty to investigate, it should be taken into account that this duty is broader if the house was built in a period when a lot of asbestos was used in construction (1960 to 1993).