Landlord compliance

Asbestos Survey & Sample Testing

Asbestos sampling and survey reports with UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis.

From £249.99 (inc VAT) Laboratory results within 48 hours 12-month workmanship guarantee

Book this service 07426 409342

Starting from

£249.99inc VAT

1 sample collected · UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis

UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis — not a visual opinion

Fibre type identified, not just presence or absence

Manage-in-place recommended where it is genuinely safer than removal

Asbestos register and management plan framework supplied with the report

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Overview

What is a Asbestos Survey certificate?

Asbestos was used extensively in UK construction until it was fully banned in 1999, and any building constructed or refurbished before 2000 may contain it. Our surveyors identify suspected asbestos-containing materials, take controlled samples, and have them analysed by a UKAS-accredited laboratory. You receive a formal report identifying what was found, where it is, its condition, the risk it presents, and clear recommendations on whether to manage it in place or remove it.

Why it matters

Why it's worth getting right

Asbestos remains the single largest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, and the exposures causing deaths today happened decades ago — the latency between exposure and disease runs from fifteen to sixty years. The material is not dangerous while it is intact and undisturbed; it becomes dangerous when fibres are released, which is exactly what happens when someone drills, cuts, sands or breaks it without knowing it is there. That is why identification matters more than removal: most asbestos is safest left in place and properly managed, provided everyone who might disturb it knows precisely where it is.

The duty to manage

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 impose a duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises, and that duty extends to the common parts of domestic buildings — the entrance halls, stairwells, corridors, lift shafts, boiler rooms and roof spaces of blocks of flats and HMOs. The dutyholder must take reasonable steps to find asbestos-containing materials, presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence otherwise, record their location and condition, assess the risk, prepare and implement a written management plan, review it regularly, and provide the information to anyone liable to disturb the material. Separately, Regulation 5 requires that no work is carried out that could disturb asbestos until a suitable and sufficient assessment has been made — which in practice means a refurbishment and demolition survey before intrusive work.

Regulations & standards

The rules this work is carried out to

Every inspection we do is measured against a published standard — here are the ones that apply to this service.

CAR 2012

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012

Duty to manage in non-domestic premises and common parts of domestic buildings.

HSG264

Asbestos: The Survey Guide

Defines management surveys and refurbishment/demolition surveys.

HSG227

A comprehensive guide to managing asbestos in premises

Risk assessment, management plans and review requirements.

In detail

Understanding your Asbestos Survey

The technical detail behind the certificate — what gets checked, what the results mean, and the decisions that actually affect your property.

Management surveys versus refurbishment and demolition surveys

HSG264 defines two survey types and choosing the wrong one is a serious and common error. A management survey is the standard survey for normal occupation. It locates asbestos-containing materials that could be damaged or disturbed during ordinary use and maintenance, assesses their condition, and supports the written management plan. It is non-destructive and does not look inside the fabric of the building. A refurbishment and demolition survey is required before any intrusive work and is fundamentally different: it is fully intrusive and destructive, opening up floors, walls and ceilings to find asbestos hidden within the structure, and the area must be unoccupied while it is carried out. Relying on a management survey before refurbishment work is one of the most common causes of accidental exposure on site.

Where asbestos is typically found in London property

The distribution is predictable once you know the era. Artex and other textured coatings on ceilings and walls, extremely common in 1960s to 1980s properties, are the single most frequent find in residential work. Asbestos insulating board appears in ceiling tiles, soffits, airing cupboard and meter cupboard linings, partition walls and around boilers, and is significantly more hazardous than cement products because it releases fibres more readily. Asbestos cement shows up in corrugated garage and outbuilding roofs, rainwater goods, flue pipes and water tanks. Floor tiles and their bitumen adhesive, particularly vinyl tiles from the 1950s to 1980s, are common in hallways and kitchens. Then there are the less obvious ones: rope seals and gaskets in old boilers, textiles behind fuse boxes, and lagging on pipework in basements and plant rooms.

Why sampling and laboratory analysis is the only reliable answer

Asbestos cannot be identified by eye with any reliability. Textured coatings applied before and after the ban look identical; cement sheets containing asbestos are visually indistinguishable from modern fibre cement; floor tiles give no external clue at all. The only way to know is to take a controlled sample and have it analysed under polarised light microscopy at a UKAS-accredited laboratory, which identifies both the presence of asbestos and the specific fibre type — chrysotile, amosite or crocidolite. Sampling itself must be done properly, with the area controlled, the material wetted, minimal disturbance and the sample point sealed afterwards, because a careless sample releases exactly the fibres the survey exists to avoid.

Manage in place or remove?

The instinctive answer is removal, and it is usually the wrong one. Asbestos in good condition, in a location where it will not be disturbed, presents minimal risk and is safest managed in place: recorded, labelled, condition-monitored and communicated to anyone who might work on it. Removal is inherently disruptive and, done badly, releases far more fibre than leaving the material alone ever would. Removal becomes the right answer where the material is damaged or deteriorating, where it is in a location subject to frequent disturbance, where it is a higher-risk product such as insulating board or lagging, or where planned work makes disturbance unavoidable. Licensed removal contractors are required for higher-risk materials. Our reports set out the recommendation for each material found and explain the reasoning rather than defaulting to removal.

What a management plan has to contain

A survey on its own does not discharge the duty to manage — the plan does. It must record the location, extent, type and condition of every asbestos-containing material or presumed material; a risk assessment for each; the decision on whether to manage or remove, with timescales; arrangements for monitoring condition, typically at least annually; procedures for informing contractors before any work, which is the single most important control; a nominated person responsible for the plan; and a review schedule. The plan must be a live document, updated whenever material is disturbed, removed or found to have deteriorated. We supply a management plan framework alongside the survey report so the duty is actually discharged rather than half-completed.

Warning signs

When you need a survey

Asbestos is presumed present unless proven otherwise in these situations:

The building was constructed or refurbished before the year 2000

You are the dutyholder for a non-domestic premises or the common parts of a block

Any refurbishment, conversion, rewire or demolition work is planned

Textured coatings such as Artex on ceilings or walls

Corrugated cement roofing on garages, sheds or outbuildings

Old vinyl floor tiles, particularly with black bitumen adhesive beneath

Insulating board around boilers, in airing cupboards or meter cupboards

Damaged or deteriorating material you suspect may contain asbestos

No asbestos register exists, or it has not been reviewed in over a year

The risks

The consequences of not knowing

Asbestos is the compliance failure with the longest tail and the most serious outcomes:

!Fatal disease with a latency of fifteen to sixty years after exposure

!Prosecution under CAR 2012 with unlimited fines and up to two years' imprisonment

!Personal liability for the dutyholder, separate from the company

!Contractors and your own staff exposed because nobody told them it was there

!Work halted mid-project and site decontamination at very substantial cost

!Civil claims from anyone exposed, decades after the event

!Insurance void, and sales or refinancing stalled by an absent asbestos register

Managing asbestos once you know where it is

Identification is the beginning of the duty, not the end of it. Keep the asbestos register accessible and give it to every contractor before they start work, no matter how minor the job — the plumber running a new pipe and the electrician chasing a cable are exactly the people who disturb asbestos unknowingly. Re-inspect the condition of every recorded material at least annually and after any incident, recording the result. Label material where labelling would not itself cause alarm or damage. Update the register immediately whenever material is removed, disturbed or found to have deteriorated. Never allow anyone to drill, cut, sand or break a material of unknown composition in a pre-2000 building — the cost of a sample is trivial against the cost of getting it wrong.

Why us

The benefits of booking your Asbestos Survey with us

Accredited, transparent and built around making compliance easy.

UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis — not a visual opinion

Fibre type identified, not just presence or absence

Manage-in-place recommended where it is genuinely safer than removal

Asbestos register and management plan framework supplied with the report

Photographs and location plan so contractors can find the material

Results within 48 hours of sampling

What's included

Everything covered in your Asbestos Survey

One all-inclusive price — here is exactly what the engineer does on site and what you receive afterwards.

Site survey by an experienced asbestos surveyor

Identification of suspected asbestos-containing materials by location

Controlled sampling with the area protected and sample points sealed

UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis identifying presence and fibre type

Condition and risk assessment for each material found

Manage-in-place or removal recommendation with reasoning for each item

Formal survey report with photographs and a location plan

Asbestos register and management plan framework supplied

Pricing

Simple, all-inclusive pricing

The price you see is the price you pay — VAT included, with no hidden call-out fees. Your final price depends on the size of your property; we'll confirm an exact, all-inclusive quote before we attend.

Asbestos Survey from

£249.99inc VAT

1 sample collected · UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis

Get my exact price

All prices include VAT · 12-month workmanship guarantee

Asbestos survey pricing

Samples collected	Price (inc VAT)
1 sample collected	£249.99
2 samples collected	£279.99
3 samples collected	£309.99
4 samples collected	£339.99
5 samples collected	£369.99

All prices include VAT, controlled sampling, UKAS-accredited laboratory analysis and the formal report. Refurbishment and demolition surveys, which are fully intrusive and require the area to be unoccupied, are quoted separately after scoping.

Prices are all-inclusive of VAT with no hidden call-out fees. Where they genuinely apply, parking (£5) and the London Congestion Charge (£18) are passed on at cost and always shown up front.

The process

How your appointment works

Simple, transparent and designed around you and your tenants.

Step 1

Scope the survey

We establish the building's age, the work planned and whether you need a management or a refurbishment and demolition survey.

Step 2

Survey and identify

The surveyor inspects the property and identifies suspected asbestos-containing materials by location and condition.

Step 3

Controlled sampling

Samples are taken with the area protected, the material wetted to suppress fibres, and every sample point sealed afterwards.

Step 4

Analysis and report

UKAS-accredited analysis confirms presence and fibre type, and your report, register and management plan framework follow within 48 hours.

FAQs

Asbestos Survey — frequently asked questions

If the building was constructed or refurbished before 2000 and you are the dutyholder for a non-domestic premises or the common parts of a block of flats or HMO, then yes — the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require you to take reasonable steps to find it. You also need one before any refurbishment or intrusive work in a pre-2000 building.

A management survey is non-destructive and supports normal occupation, locating materials that could be disturbed during ordinary use and maintenance. A refurbishment and demolition survey is fully intrusive, opening up the fabric to find hidden material, and is required before any intrusive work. The area must be unoccupied for it. Relying on a management survey before refurbishment is a common and serious mistake.

No. Asbestos in good condition, undisturbed and in a location where it will not be damaged, presents minimal risk. It becomes dangerous when fibres are released — by drilling, cutting, sanding, breaking or deterioration. That is why identification and management usually matter more than removal.

Often not. Removal is disruptive and, done badly, releases far more fibre than leaving intact material alone. Removal is right where material is damaged, in a location subject to frequent disturbance, a higher-risk product such as insulating board or lagging, or where planned work makes disturbance unavoidable. Our report explains the reasoning for each material rather than defaulting to removal.

The duty to manage applies to non-domestic premises and to the common parts of domestic buildings — so a block of flats or an HMO with shared halls, stairs and plant rooms is in scope. A single self-contained rented house is not, but you still have general duties to your tenants and to any contractor you send in, and you must not cause exposure through work you commission.

Laboratory analysis is completed and your formal report issued within 48 hours of sampling. Where a result is urgent — for example work already halted on site — tell us when you book and we will prioritise it.

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Book your Asbestos Survey today

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