On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 16:19:19 +0100, Tony Williams
wrote:

In article ,
MM wrote:
My estate agent has just called to say that the buyer's building
society survey report has come back saying that there are "traces
of asbestos" in my property.....

Question: How did they find the "traces of asbestos"?

No idea *how* the surveyor arrived at this conclusion. Vendors don't
get to see buyers' survey reports, do they? I tried to get my estate
agent call me back once I had mulled over the information, but of
course he hasn't! (But I shall ring them tomorrow morning to ask
again.)

Did they suck up dust with a vacuum cleaner and filter,
and then somehow got it chemically analysed?

I think it can only be the asbestos roof on the shed. The surveyor
(the building society one) was here for about 20 minutes and gave no
indication that there were any problems.

Perhaps it's the building society just being careful that they would
not have to spend thousands clearing out asbestos contamination if
they ever had to repossess the house. The surveyor wrote "asbestos on
shed" and that was the trigger that set warning bells ringing. I shall
know more on Wednesday when the specialist firm is coming to check.

MM