| Press release
28 June 2008
Asbestos Regulations for Commercial Premises
Commercial property owners, tenants and managing agents risk criminal penalties if they are not compliant with the Control of Asbestos Regulations which came into force in November 2006. The regulations cover prohibition of use of asbestos, asbestos in the workplace and licensing of asbestos.
The duty under the legislation falls upon anyone who, through a contract or tenancy, is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the premises, or any access to and from it. Where no contract or tenancy is in place, the duty falls upon anyone having control of the premises or its access, often the owner. This will depend generally on the terms of any agreement in place, for example in a building subject to several commercial lettings, the landlord may retain full responsibility, or delegate it to a managing agent, or the tenants may be responsible for the areas that are let to them, the landlord dealing with the common parts. As with the latest Fire Regulations, common areas in purpose built flats or house conversions will equally be affected by these provisions.
The duty requires reasonable steps to be taken to establish whether there is any asbestos on the premises, if so how much and what state it is in. This is essentially an asbestos assessment. An up to date record must be made of any asbestos located including where exactly it is, its condition and determination of risk. A detailed plan must be prepared as to how these risks are to be managed and must contain adequate provisions for monitoring and review. The plan must be put into action and information about the location and condition of any asbestos must be provided to the emergency services and anyone else liable to disturb it.
These obligations need to be taken seriously as there are criminal penalties for failure to have a risk assessment in place. Existing landlords and tenants need to check their responsibilities under leases to be clear about where the duty lies and ensure that they have complied with it. Owners of unlet commercial premises will also need to ensure that they are not in breach. Clearly an asbestos risk assessment should be requested as a matter of course when acquiring commercial premises or on the grant of a lease where the responsibility will fall on the tenant.
For premises built prior to 2000, it is best to assume that asbestos is present and that a full assessment will be required. In premises built after this date, it is most unlikely that there will be any asbestos since its use in new builds was completely prohibited by the 1999 Regulations. Under the CDM Regulations 1995, all materials used in construction need to be listed and this list should appear in the Health & Safety file for the premises. This should provide the evidence that no asbestos is present, obviating the need for a further assessment to be put in place for properties built after 2000.
For further information please contact Tomasz Dukanovich at Bright solicitors on 01752 764855 or tomasz.dukanovich@brightllp.co.uk
ENDS
Notes to editor
Photo of Tomasz Dukanovich attached.
For more information visit www.brightllp.co.uk or contact Martyn King at Fuel Communications on 07815 322304 or martyn@fuel-communications.co.uk
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