Land & New Construction
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated almost 5 years ago,
Contractor Disturb Asbestos instead of encapsulating
Hello everyone and thanks in advance to all that take the time to respond to this post.
I bought a 2 unit house and took out a 203k loan to do a full rehab, home was built in 1917. The bank requirements stated that the Contractor should test the kitchen floors and then encapsulate them, along with entire house. My contract stated that if during the rehab the contractor notice something that was possible toxic he will test and notify the customer.
Long story short, the contractor instructed his workers to remove the Kitchen floor before testing. I became impatient and terminated the relationship, not because they removed the kitchen floor but because the Project was delayed for 6 months and not much of the work was completed.
So I had another contractor do a walk through of the house to give me a new quote and he informed me during the walk through that there were chances asbestos existed under the floor tiles and that the previous contractor may disturbed it when he had them removed.
It gets worse, he never had the dumpster replace and when I stopped by to check on things, the dumpster was over flowing. I also notice the floor tiles he removed were sitting on the grass next to dumpster.
Currently am waiting for the lab results from a sample of the tile I had sent out to have tested for Asbestos.
The Contractor's insurance told me I cannot submit a claim for damages and that only the contractor can do so.
If he chose not to submit a claim, what are my options? especially since the Lawyer advised me to go through his insurance instead of turning it into an expensive legal battle. Am STUCK!
Thanks Again for your help.