They paid $1.3m for a Chapman house. Three months later it was condemned

Three months after a house in Chapman sold for $1.3 million to new owners this year, the property had been condemned and bought by the ACT government after tests confirmed the house was tainted with asbestos insulation.

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The house is the first new property affected by the toxic loose-fill asbestos insulation found in Canberra in more than four years, more than a decade after a $1 billion buyback and demolition scheme began to rid the capital of more than 1000 Mr Fluffy houses.

The house at 14 Pelham Close was sold in late January and was not identified as containing loose-fill asbestos insulation in the original survey conducted between 1989 and 1993.

The ACT government has bought a house in Chapman after tests found loose-fill asbestos insulation. Picture by Dion Georgopoulos

A private asbestos assessment commissioned by the home owner identified the presence of loose-fill asbestos, widely known as Mr Fluffy.

"Laboratory testing confirmed the presence of loose fill asbestos in the lower roof ceiling space, located on top of loose-fill yellow rock wool insulation. The loose-fill asbestos identified is confined to the property," an ACT government spokesman said.

The government acquired the house under a voluntary buyback program which still runs in case more Mr Fluffy houses are identified in the ACT.

"Where a contract for sale was completed within six months before a property is added to the affected residential premises register, the sale price is used as the property's value for buyback purposes," the spokesman said.

"For the Chapman property, the homeowners also provided evidence of improvements made following their purchase and before the property was added to the register. These improvements were considered in determining the territory's offer package."

A March 1968 advertisement in The Canberra Times for Dirk Jansen's "Asbestosfluf" insultation.

Researchers at the Australian National University have found a higher-than-expected rate of mesothelioma among men who lived in Mr Fluffy houses. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer linked to asbestos exposure.

"The higher-than-expected rate of mesothelioma in men who ever lived in [affected residential properties], but not women, may relate to the possibility that men were more likely to enter roof spaces or carry out structural maintenance," the researchers said in 2024.

Mr Fluffy loose-fill asbestos was pumped into homes as insulation between 1968 and 1979 despite an early warning from the federal Health Department the installations posed health risks.

A survey of 60,000 Canberra homes looking for asbestos insulation began in October 1988. The federal government paid for 66 per cent of the clean-up program that ran over five years until 1993.

But the clean-up program was considered flawed by inspectors, who noted loose amosite asbestos had fallen down internal wall cavities and was still present after roof spaces were cleaned and sealed.

The territory took out a Commonwealth-backed $1 billion loan to fund the buyback scheme, which cost $268.3 million, 27 per cent lower than expected. Land sales in the scheme brought in 25 per cent more than expected.

Eight properties have been added to the ACT government's register of affected houses since the full list was published in 2015.

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