Graun7 - unintentional asbestos contact

The Fountain district stretches between Bernauer Strasse and Gesundbrunnen. Thousands of degewo rental flats are located in this quiet, spacious and green residential area. The degewo company logo is proudly displayed high up on almost every block of flats. What few tenants realise: 2,700 degewo flats are here with asbestos-containing Floorflex panels equipped.

Nobody knew that Floorflex panels could contain asbestos. Our friends in Berlin drilled holes in the floor when they moved into their Masionette flat (the landlord is Degewo) to install a stair barrier for their children. They were aware of the Asbestos danger didn't realise. We thought even less that these soils would one day be our own undoing. 

When we take over a rented flat in need of renovation from acquaintances (subsequent tenant arrangement), we share our intention to renovate with degewo. We want to completely redo the bathroom, replace the floors in the living room and bedroom and redesign all the walls and ceilings. 

In the request for authorisation, we state in writing that we intend to lay glued parquet flooring. We also discuss this verbally with Mrs G. from degewo.

According to Mrs G., the Degewo in Berlin She did not authorise us in writing to lay new floors with adhesive, but assured us that this would not be a problem if we found a new tenant. We were assured the same thing when we handed over the flat. If we couldn't find anyone, we would have to remove the floor ourselves in the worst case. According to Mrs G., this would certainly not happen as we were upgrading the flat.

degewo authorised us in writing to renovate a rented flat that was contaminated with asbestos without pointing out the asbestos hazard. The Berlin Regional Court therefore reprimanded degewo in a judgement, yet degewo sees the fault solely with us. According to degewo, we alone were responsible for the asbestos contamination, as we had only been authorised to lay the flooring on the existing surface:

"Installation of parquet (floating, preferably unglued with click fastener) including installation of footfall sound insulation on existing flooring in the living room and bedroom." 

But that doesn't change the fact that degewo authorised us to renovate an asbestos flat without pointing out the asbestos hazard. 

In addition, it would not have been possible to lay the flooring over the existing flooring, as there was laminate flooring in the living room and bedroom. The existing flooring had to be removed. We didn't realise that there was another "existing floor covering" under the laminate, but apparently degewo did. 

So there was another floor covering under the laminate that was glued down. Why should we have had any concerns if another floor covering had already been glued to the subfloor? We had also informed degewo in writing and verbally that we intended to lay the parquet with adhesive. This is not possible on an existing floor covering. 

That we have the floor "leave alone" or should not damage it was not written anywhere. Degewo knew that we were going to tackle the floors. They didn't tell us that there were asbestos building materials in the flat.

In the agreement, we are only warned about concealed cables, which must not be damaged. 

"The work was carried out without damaging concealed cables. (electrical, sanitary, heating and ventilation installation) to take place".

Under point 7 we are even advised to use the resulting building rubble (!) to dispose of them yourself. It was assumed that there would be rubble and thus damage to the structure.

Not a word was said about the Asbestos danger warned in our degewo rented flatalthough Frank Bielka (former degewo Supervisory Board Chairman and State Secretary) already in the year 2000 announced to the Senate that 14,400 degewo flats Floorflex panels containing asbestos included. So degewo was well aware of the danger lurking in the flats. Nevertheless, degewo authorised us to renovate the flat. 

As part of the renovation, we removed the asbestos-containing vinyl tiles from the living room and bedroom. The tiles were disposed of as building rubble in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Then the black glue containing asbestos milled out without adequate protective measures. The concrete milling machine made the entire prefabricated building vibrate. Fine dust everywhere in the flat.

Incidentally, the same protective measures apply to the removal of asbestos-containing adhesives as for weakly bonded asbestos products. Such work must be carried out in a dust-free environment. The rooms to be renovated are completely sealed off for this purpose. Workers may only enter the rooms wearing protective clothing/breathing protection. No asbestos fibres may be inhaled or escape from the rooms. 

There is nothing in the tenancy agreement about pollutants, nor is there anything in the agreement about structural alterations. We were not personally warned either. Signs in the apartment block? Not a thing. 

We contact degewo several times to get clarification. Without success. No degewo employee has ever mentioned the word asbestos to us.

In an e-mail, we ask whether asbestos is meant by pollutants and why the flat is closed for transfer. 

Degewo answers:

 "Firstly, we would like to allay any concerns you may have about health hazards due to pollution... however, as you may have already learnt from the press and radio, the housing market situation in Berlin has fundamentally changed... As a state-owned housing company, it is not always possible for us to dispose freely of every flat. In particular, flats that are subject to social housingas well as the flat you are renting... certain requirements often have to be met. As a rule, the landlord can therefore hardly consider any requests for new tenants at the moment... we therefore ask you to assume that you must first vacate the flat completely."

Not a word about possible asbestos contamination. The flat was subject to social housing long before we arrived. Nothing has changed in this respect.

A new tenant arrangement would be possible if the flat was not contaminated, as a degewo employee confirmed to us in a telephone call. The e-mail seems to be a poorly thought-out diversionary manoeuvre.

An internet search provides more clarity than all previous attempts to communicate with degewo. degewo is communicative and open towards the online media. You can find all kinds of information there: Thousands of degewo flats with Floorflex panels containing asbestos, etc. 

Is our flat also affected or not? We are still trying to find out. We can't find out anything concrete from degewo. They first have to test what kind of pollutants could be involved. Until then, they can't tell us anything concrete. 

Only when we move out of the flat would we be tested over a period of up to a year to see what the pollutants might be. The flat has to be completely empty for this, otherwise you wouldn't get any objective test results.

Test for all harmful substances that exist in this worldWe were told this verbatim.

Only after we had been Tenant Protection Association and advised us explained how to communicate with the landlordthings progressed:

"I request that you confirm within 10 days of receipt of this letter that the floor tiles/floor adhesive in my flat are contaminated with asbestos. If the deadline set is not met, I will commission an expert to carry out the work at my expense."

Within a very short time, I received an e-mail from degewo. Suddenly everything happened quickly. An expert will contact us to test the floors for asbestos. That also happened very quickly. Suddenly the flat no longer had to be emptied. It is also no longer tested for all the harmful substances in the world. No, just asbestos. Now it's time to get down to business.

There were still a few Floorflex panels in the wall cupboard (hallway), and the expert (Mr G.) took a sample here. Asbestos was detected in both the Floorflex panels and the black glue. Nevertheless, we later had to commission our own expert (Mr W.). Degewo's lawyers deny that the same asbestos flooring was also present in the living room and bedroom (we had already been warned about this kind of argument). In the living room and bedroom, there was still a black strip of adhesive around the edges, and Mr W. took a sample. Test result: asbestos.

Mr G. saw no reason to test in the other rooms. If there is asbestos in the corridor, then it was used everywhere. He thought it was very negligent of degewo not to warn us about the asbestos-containing floors.

Mr G. (the expert appointed by degewo) also reported that already Many tenants the Renovating asbestos floors yourself without realising the danger. In the Graunstrasse 7 According to him Several residential units analysed for asbestos. According to him, so far asbestos in all cases detected in the soil.

According to his own statements, Mr W. even before the ban on asbestos in 1993 samples for the state-owned housing companies, in which even then Asbestos detected in the Floorflex panels. He told us that at that time, examination using an electron microscope was relatively new. According to him, the state-owned housing companies (including degewo) are very well informed and know where floors containing asbestos are installed. 

Degewo wants to make it easy for itself: it's our problem that we can't pass on the flat now because of pollution. That we risked our lives during the renovation is our fault. We have to live with that now.

We knew nothing about the asbestos hazard until we moved out of the flat. No wonder, because ex-degewo managing director As early as 2000, Frank Bielka saw no need to inform tenants about possible dangers. It was only when we wanted to pass on the flat that degewo gave us scant information about the contamination. If we hadn't moved out, we might never have found out that we had been exposed to dangerous asbestos fibres during the renovation.

"Parts of conversations that do not belong to the core area of the private sphere may be utilised if the interests of the general public outweigh the interests of the parties to the conversation, which are protected by fundamental rights, to such an extent that utilisation of the tape recordings is to be regarded as permissible." 

Bavarian Supreme Court (BayOLG) - Judgement of 20 January 1994 - File number 5 St RR 143/93