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Posted By Marc
Hello All,
A work mate of mine lives in a house that is rented from the local authority.
On this property is an old garage that contains asbestos as part of its make up.
Part of the garage has been damaged and my work mate has reported this to the local authority who wants to charge him £1000 to remove the garage.
As this property is rented from the local authority is he owed a duty of care? Also should he be paying the local authority to remove it?
Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated
Marc..
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Posted By Michael Moore
Marc
The landlord has a legal duty under the Defective Premises Act 1972 to take reasonable care to see that tenants and other people are safe from personal injury or disease caused by a defect in the state of the premises. (HSE, L127, Page 2, Para.7).
As to the cost implications one would assume that unless the tenancy agreement says that tenant is responsible for maintenance of the property then the landlord would pay (this is however only an educated guess).
Hope this helps
Mick
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Posted By Samantha Fisher
I would agree that the authority has a duty of care but what was the state of the garage when it was first occupied by your mate? Was the asbestos in a dangerous condition then? Are they trying to charge because the damage has been caused by the occupant rather than the suggestion that he should be carrying out maintenance? If that is the case I still think they should remove it to avoid any danger to the public and then try and recoup and monies they see as owing via due legal processes.
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Posted By Kelvin George
Marc
If I was your mate I would speak to a solicitor who is an expert in contract law concerning landlords.
The reason I say this is because as well meaning as everyone is who use this site they probably don't have the necessary experitse and knowledge to give you or your mate concrete and sound advice.
Cheers Kelvin
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Posted By Marc
Thank you to all who have responded,
Marc..
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Posted By Michael Moore
Marc,
Just to reinforce the point about a duty of care this is an extract from the relevant act:
DEFECTIVE PREMISES ACT 1972
Sect.4 Landlord's duty of care in virtue of obligation or right to repair premises demised
(1) Where premises are let under a tenancy which puts on the landlord an obligation to the-tenant for the maintenance or repair of the premises, the landlord owes to all persons who might reasonably be expected to be affected by defects in the state of the premises a duty to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances to see that they are reasonably safe from personal injury or from damage to their property caused by a relevant defect.
Sect.6 Supplemental
(1) In this Act-
"personal injury" includes any disease and any impairment of a person's physical or mental condition.
As Kelvin rightly says if your mate feels he has a grievance, he should seek legal representation, as a chat room should never be your definitive source of information on any matter.
I hope however this gives you an indication of your mates rights in this matter.
Mick
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Posted By Ken Taylor
The ladlord's duty is to provide safe premises but there is no duty to remove a damaged asbestos-cement panel or roofing sheet - only to make it safe. There is a lot of this stuff around in garages and out-buildings. Are they, perhaps, saying that it could be made safe by encapsulation but, if he wants the garage removed, he will have to pay?
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Posted By Alec Wood
Was the garage there when he moved in? If so the authority have "provided" it. It may be that the local authority are making the presumption that he erected it, as many tennants do, and that is why he is being billed.
If it was there when he moved in and he points this out to them then they will usually accept that it, and the liability for cost, is theirs.
As said above though, this is just the electronic equivalent of pub chatter so I would suggest that legal advice be sought if there is any question about ownership and hence liability. Most solicitors do a fixed price half-hour consultation which in this instance would be money well spent.
Alec Wood
Samsung Electronics
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Posted By joseph byrne
I saw a programme on tv were a private tenant had an asbestos garage and his car had been set on fire which left the garage unstable thus requiring demolition(manchester area).The local authority paid a company to have it removed and told the tenant they would retrieve the cost from the future sale of his house.I think in the case of this situation your friend may have to prove they didn't construct the garage therefore it would be the authorities duty to remove it.
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Posted By Nick Egan
The respondents to this thread are I'm sure all well meaning, and in fact probably very well informed. It is my guess that many will practice in the RSL sector so know what they are talking about, I would suggest that the issue has been thoroughly covered in the responses taken as a whole.
As to Kelvin's trust in solicitors, if you can find an "expert" who both understands the safety/risk aspects and the landlord & tenant obligations well good look to you.
(Joe nice to see you contibuting mate)
Nick
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Posted By joseph byrne
Hello Nick, i think you saw the same programme,i seem to remember you telling me one of the local authority employees taking part in the programme was an ex colleague of ours, anyway Marc i hope you got sorted.
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Posted By Marc
Hello All,
Thank you for responing to the post, As yet the issue has not been resolved but the information that was supplied via this post has helped my workmate out.
Once agian I would like to thank you all for responding, it has given me a positive attitude towards this forum and I look forward to using it again.
Marc..
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