Posted By Steve Cartwright The answer is yes. If the landlord knows there is asbestos in the premises then he/she will have to inform the tennant of its whereabouts. It is not a legal requirement to have a survey done but you will have to have an asbestos registor, identifying areas in the building of its location and the only way to do that is to have a survey done. Bit like the chicken and the egg. The other thing to watch out for is that the Landlord may charge you for the asbestos register. It will depend on what is in the lease/rent agreement. Regards Steve

Posted By Stuart Nagle Fran. Several things here: 1) If the tenant is a sole tenant (e.g. the property is not a house in multiple occupation) then the whole of the property is a domestic premises and not a workplace per se. However, in saying this, the owner is responsible for carrying out an asbestos survey as the premises is his business and can become a workplace if maintenance is required to the property, hence the owner has responsibility for identifying any ACM and holding a register, but this is normally done prior to any works commencing and not generally ad-hoc, unless the property was selected to represent a sample of similar properties for which surveys have been commisioned. In such circumstances there is no obligation on the tenant to meet the costs of any asbestos identification or register costs, unless works were done by the tenant without consent and have caused the owner to incur the costs in undertaking the survey ect in order to repair the property etc. In such as case the works and survey could be rechargable and perhaps the tenant even sued for the costs etc if they do not pay... 2) In houses in multiple occupation (HMO's) there are two distinct areas - tenanted areas (the private parts occupied by the tenants) and the common areas (stairways and perhaps shared amenities etc). In this case the owner again has full responsibility for all areas as any area can become a workplace when maintenance is required to the building and asbestos is legally required to be identified, as above. In practice and from expereience, most owners/landlords are only at present undertaking surveys for ACM in common areas, where they are most likely to have to carry out higher and more frequent maintenance works etc. In respect of asbestos being present in a wall, provided the wall is in good condition, encapsuation would appear to be the answer. However, if asbestos is in one wall, why not all the others too, if the structure was all built at the same time? If asbestos is found, there is an obligation to advise all persons who may be affected, including tenants (who might for example decide to scape off all the wall coverings on their (inside of the same) wall and in the process expose themselves to ACM present!!). Finally, If a type 2 survey was undertaken in the premises (or just the common areas) then all suspected ACM's should have been sampled and tested and a proper report submitted, not a piecemeal indication of an ACM in one wall only (unless that is all that was found). asbestos surveys that 'presume' the presence of asbetsos are type 1 surveys where a 'presumption' is made and samples are not taken. In my experience ACM's 'IN' a wall are unusual, as it is more likely that something was applied to a wall, e.g. a finishing, a paper or tiles of some type such as bituminous waterproofing paper or something similar that may contain the asbestos, not the actual structural elements of the wall itself (but still I stand to be corrected on this). Hope this is of help.... Stuart

Posted By Frank Hallett Comprehensive answer Stuart! It's not clear from the original question what the actual age and construction is, but it is possible for various forms of ACM's to be "in" the wall. It could be an Asbestolux or similar sandwich [not unusual] or fibrous infill [not unusual] or a blown asbestos/cement mix. All would have been used as either fire seperation [most likely] or noise reduction measures. Whichever of these or other similar presence it will require a clearly documented and unambiguous management system that has, as it's ultimate goal, the removal of the ACMs; together with a rigourous damage and spread minimisation system until it's removed. Frank Hallett