# Forum Home Renovation Asbestos  Asbestos roof relocated to back yard & buried

## George2010

Hi & G'day 
I would appreciate some advice please.  It appears when my cottage in Queanbeyan was renovated in 1999 and prior to my purchase of same, the asbestos house roof and possibly the property fence (asbestos?) as well was dumped in the back yard and buried under a metre or two of land fill.  It's a standard NSW house block so there's plenty of back yard!   
I had a building report prepared prior to purchase of the cottage in early 2000 but of course that would not necessarily include the condition or otherwise of the back yard.   
The asbestos came to light quite literally a few years ago during the drought.  A mate of mine said, "I see where you buried the asbestos".  Sure enough, asbestos sheeting was being exposed through receding & lowering dry land fill.  Thanks.  
Does anyone know what laws / rules applied in disposing of asbestos in 1999 please?  Of course I will seek out the facts & history of what might have happened with the rennovations at the time but I think I might need to seek legal advice as well.   
Thanks for your time.

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## Tools

We are just finishing a job where the old asbestos roof had been buried right where we where about to build an extension. It is very expensive to remove as it all had to go as contaminated soil. Ended up costing around $25,000. 
Tools

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## dazzler

Proving it will be the issue I think.  At the very least you will need to film all its removal for court and then somehow link it to the previous owner.    
Hopefully there was only ever one owner  :Biggrin:  
Good luck.

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## q9

If you currently have some asbestos material poking out of the ground, it is probably a good idea to get some heavy plastic over the area, and perhaps throw some more dirt over it to ensure no material becomes airborne.   
Then contact your local council.
You may be able to prove the timing of when the material was taken down and buried, depending on the frequency of their aerial photography schedule.

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## Bloss

In this brochure tells you what they required: http://www.home-check.com.au/infoshe...ealthFacts.pdf and in WA this one: http://www.melvillecity.com.au/resid...g-asbestos.pdf 
This one is from 1998 and tells you how to 'live with fibro' so gives an indications of the law and processes in NSW at around that time: http://www.icpropertymaintenance.com...ibro%20315.pdf 
Depends why you are concerned now? So long as it is buried and is not able to create dust it is quite safe. The stickies on here will tell you how to deal with it. Trying to find out 'who is to blame' and attempting to get some legal redress will be costly, time consuming and IMO ultimately futile. So many 'ifs' and 'buts' to deal with you'd simply be getting yourself between some lawyers and a load of money and that is always a dangerous position. :Frown:

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## Studricho

I work with asbestos and i have both the friable and bonded tickets. 
The soil in your back yard can be deemed friable and may require to be excavated to a certain depth. Depends on how far you want to go. 
Talk to your local asbestos removal business and they might be able to help you out. 
I know we have done many jobs that others would be frighten to even take on. I've only recommended the boss to knock back one job, but work cover had already been involved and the job site looked like a bomb had gone off. Asbestos from the front to back yard boundary.

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