Asbestos Regulations:
In summary, if you own a commercial building, either you or your tenant is required to have an asbestos report which can carried out by you (or a professional consultant).
If you are responsible for managing the maintenance and repair of a building (duty holder), you must manage any asbestos in it. As well as protecting people from exposure to asbestos fibres, you have a legal duty to manage asbestos (under regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006).
The duty to manage asbestos is contained in regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. It requires the person who has the duty (ie the "dutyholder") to:
Take reasonable steps to find out if there are materials containing asbestos in non-domestic premises, and if so, its amount, where it is and what condition it is in;
Presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence that they do not;
Make, and keep up-to-date, a record of the location and condition of the asbestos containing materials - or materials which are presumed to contain asbestos; assess the risk of anyone being exposed to fibres from the materials identified;
Prepare a plan that sets out in detail how the risks from these materials will be managed; take the necessary steps to put the plan into action;
Periodically review and monitor the plan and the arrangements to act on it so that the plan remains relevant and up-to-date;
and provide information on the location and condition of the materials to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb them.
There is also a requirement on anyone to co-operate as far as is necessary to allow the dutyholder to comply with the above requirements.