April 10, 2023

Asbestos survey when buying or selling a flat. Is a survey required?

Why have an asbestos survey when buying or selling a flat? It’s a question we get asked a lot.

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral composed of flexible fibres that are resistant to heat, electricity and corrosion.

As long as asbestos is in good condition and is not disturbed or damaged there is negligible risk. However, if it is disturbed or damaged, it can becomea danger to health, because asbestos fibres are released into the air and people may breathe them in.

Any building prior to 2000 could contain asbestos and was extensively used as a building material between the 1950s and 1980s.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

In a similar way to fire safety, there is a legal duty on the person responsible for managing the maintenance and repair of common areas in buildings containing flats to “manage” asbestos.

The requirement is in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and applies only to common areas such as foyers, corridors, staircases, lifts.

What do you need to do?

The duty is to ascertain whether the premises contain asbestos and if so where it is and what condition it is in, to assess the risk and to make a plan to manage the risk and act on it.

I’m buying/selling a flat, do I need an asbestos survey?

Asbestos survey when buying and selling flats?

When looking at whether you need an asbestos survey before buying a flat, it’s worth pointing out that residential asbestos testing and surveys are not a strict legal requirement within the flats.

It’s not illegal to sell a house in the UK with asbestos, but if you are aware of the asbestos you should disclose this to potential buyers. But Caveat emptor is a Latin phrase that means "let the buyer beware."

If you are buying a property (commercial or residential pre-2000) you should be provided a survey report covering foyers, corridors, staircases, lifts and externals.

If you purchase the property without a survey and later find out it contains ACM’s, then it becomes your legacy issue to deal with which can be costly.

Will a building surveyor check for asbestos in a flat you are buying?

The thing to remember is not all building surveyors have the same experience. It’s worth asking when appointing a surveyor to undertake a building survey for you. Several building surveying companies regularly undertake CPD training. We also provide asbestos training to various companies including site-based training for surveyors. There is also a great guidance document for surveyors.

So, to the question, would a buyer have to commission a separate asbestos survey and pay for that, our answer is yes. A Homebuyer Report and/or Building Survey Report is not a specialist Asbestos report. The Surveyor may well make comment, based upon their experience and/or general knowledge about the potential risk and/or likelihood of a particular item containing Asbestos. But as no testing is carried out to be certain whether a product contains asbestos.

Building Surveyors and Conveyancers, Problems may arise?

Some home buyers believe that they can simply have a standard home survey before they buy a flat and this will pick up on any key issues. However, it is vital to realise that asbestos is not a focus of these types of survey.

Anything not identified prior to purchase becomes a legacy issue for you to deal with, and asbestos removal for notifiable and licenced materials can be very costly to remove.

The purchaser’s solicitors will normally ask for confirmation that an asbestos risk assessment has been carried out for asbestos as a matter of course and ask to see evidence of this. It may cause a problem with a sale if this is not available.

In conclusion

If you are a landlord and you look after commercial or residential properties, then the legislation requires that you are aware of asbestos in those ‘common areas’ of the property that you control. These areas can be overlooked and includes corridors, externals, stairwells, roof spaces, plant rooms and car parking areas.

It’s not illegal to sell a house in the UK with asbestos, but if you are aware of the asbestos, you should disclose this to potential buyers. But with Caveat emptor "let the buyer beware", when buying a property, why would you not check every last detail?

Anything not identified prior to purchase becomes a legacy issue for you to deal with, and asbestos removal for notifiable and licenced materials can be very costly to remove.

Ideally surveys should be undertaken within flats and communal areas, reports should be provided by the vendor and, if reports are not provided we would advise an asbestos surveys are undertaken prior to purchase of flats.