Asbestos discovered

[Strösseli]

Hi, first post ever here. Apologies if there’s a lack of required etiquette. I am running into some housing issues and hope someone could provide me with some information please.

Bought a house 3.5years ago (built in 1972-1975). The previous owner told us the place (including toilet and sauna) was renovated recently (about 2010 or later), less than 10years before we took over. He didn’t mention anything about documents so we didn’t ask for it either. Recently we informed the Taloyhtiö that we would like to renovate the toilet (because I hate the tiles) and they asked us for the Asbestos test when it was last renovated. We told them that the previous owner did not give us a copy and we requested a copy from them. They said they do not have it either.

My Renovation contractor said today that he found suspicious materials under the sauna’s tiles when he demolished them and had sent them for test and told us he will charge 100€ for the test (which we are Ok). However, what if the result shows positive for Asbestos? Can we claim the repair cost from the precious owner or Taloyhtiö? Feeling rather cheated about this.

[praajhen]

In this cases, you have to pay for asbestos removal.

[FinlandGirl]

Bought a house 3.5years ago (built in 1972-1975). The previous owner told us the place (including toilet and sauna) was renovated recently (about 2010 or later), less than 10years before we took over. He didn’t mention anything about documents so we didn’t ask for it either. Recently we informed the Taloyhtiö that we would like to renovate the toilet (because I hate the tiles) and they asked us for the Asbestos test when it was last renovated. We told them that the previous owner did not give us a copy and we requested a copy from them. They said they do not have it either.

My Renovation contractor said today that he found suspicious materials under the sauna’s tiles when he demolished them and had sent them for test and told us he will charge 100€ for the test (which we are Ok). However, what if the result shows positive for Asbestos? Can we claim the repair cost from the precious owner or Taloyhtiö? Feeling rather cheated about this.

If the test is positive and you suspect the previous owner did not tell you despite knowing about it, you should discuss with a lawyer what options you have against the previous owner.

[heretostay]

Definitely not from taloyhtiö. Not sure about previous owner. As another member said, contact a lawyer. If you didn’t have a professional inspection before buying, then it might be hard to prove anything. Asbestos is quite common in older buildings here. As far as I am aware there is no requirement to disclose the presence of asbestos in real estate sales.

[agroot]

At least for apartments not houses, there is no such requirement. A survey before renovation was also not needed until recently - instead an asbestos demolition could be performed regardless whether there is asbestos or not.

Did the previous owner change the tiles? If he did, there should be no asbestos. If he didn't, he would not have bothered to do a survey there.