asbestos testing and removal
Our offer was accepted on a house and we had the inspection today. We were told that the insulation on the pipes in the basement may be asbestos and that it needs to be tested. He said the testing and the removal (if needed) should be paid for by the seller. Has anyone had experience…
Our offer was accepted on a house and we had the inspection today. We were told that the insulation on the pipes in the basement may be asbestos and that it needs to be tested. He said the testing and the removal (if needed) should be paid for by the seller.
Has anyone had experience with this? If it is asbestos, I am nervous that the seller wouldn’t do a great job of getting it removed and cleaned up. Of course, they may tell us they are not going to pay to do this and then the deal may fall apart anyway. How much does asbestos removal cost? The inspector just said, “expensive.”
Thanks for any advice.
had the exact same thing. sellers took care of it, it cost $2000. it was a good thing they did, b/c it was in the contract and my bank wouldn’t give a mortgage until they had proof of the removal.
There is no “standard way” to handle the payment for this cost. It’s a negotiation. Sometimes the Seller will pay; sometimes the Buyer. (Heck, sometimes the broker will make a concession and pay some of it.)
I suggest getting an Asbestos Investigation. If the “inspection” you did was just a normal home inspection (even if by a licensed engineer) that’s no the same as having an Asbestos Investigation. During an Asbestos Investigation they will take samples, etc.
Based on that report, you can bid out the job to NY State approved Asbestos Removal (Abatement) companies. Probably about $3,000 for the standard 100 to 125 linear feet of pipe wrap.
I would get a concession or do it myself (and pay for it). If you make the Seller do it, they will do a “rip and run” illegal job and you will not remove all the dangerous fibers.
We had a 35′ long section of heating pipe de-asbestosed for $1200.
it cost me $3800 to remove asbestos insulation and asbestos tiles from the floors of our cellar. search the forum for Liam Hogan’s number, highly recommended.
the sellers in our case also did not want to bother removing the asbestos before closing (hey they lived with for 20+ years, what should they care?) so they gave a $4000 credit to have it done ourselves. this creates a kind of gray area in terms of the mortgage, etc. we needed it in actual money, not just a mortgage lowered by a little, so the lawyer had to do some juggling, but it all worked out in the end. but i do remember him telling us ‘don’t mention the credit to the bank’s lawyer!’
If you are really nervous about the job the seller would do to remove it and don’t want to pay for it, you can put into the contract of sale that if the seller doesn’t remove the asbestos (which they probably won’t want to do anyway) that you get a credit at the closing. Get an estimate from someone about what it will cost to remove it. This kind of kills two birds with one stone, a) it gives an out for the likely event that the seller doesn’t want to deal with removing it b) you will be getting the bank to finance the removal, b/c your sale price will remain unchanged. I have talked to lawyers about doing this and its perfectly legal and should be easy to do.