Industrial

Asbestos risks in Letchworth

A salutary lesson to all surveyors undertaking dilapidations works where asbestos is present.

Richard Brown of NG Chartered Surveyors, acting for established clients Eyre & Elliston, negotiated the acquisition of their new premises, and the dilapidations vacating their existing premises in Letchworth.

Richard undertook a pre-acquisition survey of the new unit, including a drone survey of the roof which highlighted cut end corrosion and related issues, which were then factored into the acquisition negotiations.

The exit from Eyre & Elliston’s old premises was more complicated.  The premises comprised a pair of deep and narrow 1920’s asbestos roofed warehouses, which did not offer scope for redevelopment given their location in a mixed area of similar uses and constructions, so reducing the Section 18 (diminution in value) protection route.

The landlords Schedule of Dilapidations which was relatively generic, included for the strip and replacement of the existing roofs and gutters, and which the tenants acknowledged were beyond economic repair.  The landlords claim included a substantial sum for this work, but did not take account of the nature of the asbestos roof.

The appearance of the roof insulation material gave Richard immediate cause for concern, and an Asbestos Survey highlighted this to be a foam sprayed chrysotile material, which is highly susceptible to damage and the risk of escaping fibres.  The landlord’s cost of removal and disposal had been substantially under-estimated, as the additional specialist cost of removal of the insulation was not factored in the dilapidations claim.

The lesson to be learned from this exercise is that both landlords and tenants surveyors should thoroughly investigate and identify the nature of construction and particularly of potentially deleterious materials, prior to committing to their thoughts and claims to paper.

For further dilapidations advice, please contact Richard Brown or Paul Rogers at NG.