Commercial property: responsibilities of landlords and tenants

Duty to manage asbestos in premises

Whoever is responsible for maintaining all or part of business premises must also manage any asbestos in the premises.

Depending on the terms of the lease, this could be the tenant, landlord or managing agent. In the event that maintenance responsibilities aren't clearly specified, the legal duty rests with the party which has the greatest degree of control over the premises.

If you hold this legal duty, you must:

• take reasonable steps to determine the location and condition of materials likely to contain asbestos
• presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence that they do not
• keep an up-to-date record of the location and condition of the asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) or presumed ACMs in the premises
• assess the risk of the likelihood of anyone being exposed to fibres from these materials
• prepare a plan setting out how the risks from the materials are to be managed
• take the necessary steps to put the plan into action
• review and monitor the plan periodically
• provide information on the location and condition of the materials to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb them
• make sure that material is analysed for asbestos content in accordance with ISO17025, which sets standards for both quality management and technical requirements in laboratories

Remember that even if you aren't legally responsible for managing asbestos risks in your premises, you have a duty to co-operate with the party who is.

Tenants, for example, must allow the landlord or managing agent access to the premises to conduct inspections. If the tenant has the responsibility, a landlord must disclose relevant information to both current and new tenants.

You can download a guide to the legal requirements on managing asbestos from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website (PDF, 184K) - Opens in a new window.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• General health and safety responsibilities
• Ensuring gas safety
• Ensuring fire safety
• Electrical safety
• Duty to manage asbestos in premises
• Energy performance
• Responsibilities for maintenance of commercial properties

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