Bonjour everyone,
I am helping a new neighbour go through the diagnostic report on the house they have just bought. The report clearly states that no asbestos was found during the survey. My neighbour, who is a professional builder, showed me sheets of asbestos in two of the rooms in the house. Where does he stand legally? If the survey was carried out properly, how would the surveyor go about looking for asbestos, which might very well (as in this case), be concealed behind plasterboard/any other kind of wooden boarding. Thanks for any thoughts.
Blackie

Well if the report states that no asbestos was found, logically I don't think you can quarrel with that, it's telling the truth.
I don't think surveyors are supposed to rip houses to pieces on the off-chance of finding nasties in the rubble.
I suppose you could go the vice cachée route if there is any reason to think that the seller knew the asbestos was there, and had purposely concealed it so that the survey wouldn't find it.
Or you could argue that if a professional builder takes a house to pieces, he should know how best to deal with whatever he finds.

Was the survey by a UK surveyor?
I have no idea of the regulations in France but in the UK surveyors have lots of get-outs regarding the survey.
e.g. We did not lift carpets or examine non-visible areas.
Is the report a condition report or a full survey?
In the UK, a builder cannot remove or dispose of asbestos - although one did just that for me.
With all the permissions and regulations governing house construction and alteration in France, I cannot see that France would have lesser standards than the UK.
If he is a UK builder then he will know all this and that you need to get a licenced asbestos contractor to remove and dispose of the asbestos.
In France the general rule is buyer beware and he should speak with the notaire to establish where he stands.

If it's just the normal diagnostic paid for by the seller, AFAIK it's a visual inspection only. If the buyer wishes they can arrange for a more in-depth survey to be done, but obviously that would be at their own expense. The seller has no obligation to provide or to pay for that.

Correction - just found this, which seems to be exactly your neighbour's situation, and apparently a visual inspection is not sufficient, but the surveyor is not to use any destructive methods of investigation.
Diagnostic amiante : le contrôle seulement visuel ne suffit pas ! | Net-iris 2014
"le contrôle que doit effectuer le diagnostiqueur amiante n'est pas purement visuel. Il doit comprendre des vérifications n'impliquant pas de travaux destructifs mais suffisamment poussés pour détecter la présence d'amiante. "
So I guess the question is, could the survey have found the asbestos without doing anything destructive to the plasterboard or panelling?

thank you very much ET, that last input is very interesting!
Blackie

Blackie What type of asbestos? There is a considerable difference between white asbestos blue asbestos and gray asbestos. White is I believe less harmfull, although none of them is stuff you particularly want around.
My (French) builders simply took it carefully off and took it to the dump. And yes they did tell the dechetterie what they were doing - it simply went in tout venant.

There are several articles available on Google.
SiteClear
or
Asbestos in your French house - FrenchEntrée

One of these articles states that for a building with planning permission prior to 1997, the presence of asbestos should be declared in the Acte de Vente.

Now that your neighbour has found it then he is obliged to declare it or get rid of it.

Sorry about the delay in answering Biggsie, but it's white asbestos. Thanks for the info Cyrian, I'll pass that on to our neighbour.
Blackie