Released On 27th Jan 2025

Do Housing Associations Have to Remove Asbestos?

UPDATED 03/12/2025

Asbestos is still present in many homes built before the year 2000, including a large proportion of social housing stock. This often raises an important question: do housing associations have to remove asbestos from their properties?

The short answer is not always. In many cases, asbestos can be safely managed in situ, as long as it remains in good condition and is unlikely to be disturbed. However, housing associations do have clear legal responsibilities to identify, assess, record, and manage asbestos risks in accordance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012).

This article explains when asbestos must be removed, when it can remain in place, and how housing associations and their consultants can manage asbestos safely and effectively, supported by accurate information, structured workflows, and modern digital tools.

When must asbestos be removed?

Housing associations do not automatically have to remove asbestos from their properties. There are specific situations where removal becomes necessary:

Refurbishment or demolition work

If planned works may disturb asbestos-containing materials (ACMs), removal is usually necessary by licensed professionals. Before such works begin, a Refurbishment & Demolition (R&D) survey must be carried out to assess what will be affected.

Deterioration or damage

If asbestos becomes damaged, friable, or otherwise poses a risk to tenants or contractors, removal or encapsulation is required. ACMs in poor condition can release fibres into the air and must be dealt with promptly.

High-risk locations

Some ACMs present increased risk due to location – for example, in areas with frequent access by tenants, in communal areas, or where tenants may accidentally disturb them.

These scenarios make removal either necessary or strongly advisable. However, removal is not mandatory in all cases.

When removal is not required: Managing asbestos in situ

If asbestos is in good condition, unlikely to be disturbed, and properly managed, it can remain in place safely.

Housing associations are required to:

• Identify ACMs through asbestos surveys
• Assess and record their condition
• Maintain an up-to-date asbestos register
• Put an asbestos management plan in place
• Monitor the condition of ACMs over time
• Communicate risks to anyone (contractors, maintenance staff, tenants, etc.) who may disturb the material

This approach – managing asbestos rather than removing it – is very common, especially across large housing portfolios.

But managing asbestos effectively depends on something critical: good information.

Benefits of proactive management

Proactive management, even when asbestos removal is not required, has several advantages:

• Improved Safety: Minimising the risk of asbestos exposure for tenants and staff.
• Regulatory Compliance: Avoiding hefty fines and legal action.
• Cost Savings: Preventing emergency repairs or removals by addressing issues early.

The importance of a reliable Asbestos Register

A comprehensive, accurate asbestos register is central to safe in-situ management. It allows housing associations and their consultants to:

• Know exactly where ACMs are located
• Understand each material’s condition and risk rating
• Plan maintenance work appropriately
• Ensure contractors receive the right information
• Track changes over time
• Demonstrate compliance with CAR 2012

In practice, registers can become difficult to maintain when survey data is collected across multiple sites, stored in different formats, or updated inconsistently.

Digital systems such as TEAMS Software help consultants and housing associations keep a consistent, centralised register that reflects real-time site conditions. Mobile data capture tools allow surveyors to record ACM details directly on site, reducing transcription errors and improving data accuracy.

Portfolio-wide visibility for Housing Associations

Most housing associations manage hundreds or thousands of properties. This scale creates operational challenges:

• Identifying which properties contain ACMs
• Prioritising high-risk assets
• Scheduling reinspections
• Providing contractors with the right documents
• Keeping track of outstanding actions

A portfolio-wide view helps decision-makers understand risk distribution, identify patterns, and manage compliance more proactively.

Platforms like TEAMS support this by giving consultants and housing providers a dashboard-style overview of survey status, ACM conditions, and outstanding remedial actions across their entire asset base.

The Survey – Action – Monitoring workflow

Managing asbestos safely is an ongoing process involving several key stages:

1. Survey

Management and R&D surveys identify ACMs, capture material details, and assess condition.

With mobile survey tools, data can be captured on site and published immediately into the asbestos register, reducing delays and ensuring accuracy.

2. Action

Some asbestos survey findings result in recommended actions, for example:

• Encapsulation
• Removal
• Inspect periodically
• Access restrictions

Housing associations need a reliable way to track these actions, assign responsibility, and monitor deadlines.

TEAMS allows actions to be created, assigned to named users, and tracked against due dates, ensuring nothing is lost or forgotten.

3. Monitoring

ACMs that remain in situ must be reinspected at appropriate intervals. Monitoring schedules are a core part of asbestos management plans.

Digital tools can help organise this by:

• Creating monitoring schedules
• Ensuring survey history is consistent
• Keeping photographic evidence linked to each location
• Mapping ACMs to floorplans for clarity

Planned works and trigger events

Many asbestos-related incidents occur not during major projects, but during routine maintenance where asbestos information was unavailable, incomplete, or simply overlooked.

To prevent this, systems like TEAMS can automatically flag ACMs when planned works are scheduled. This ensures:

• Contractors are aware of risks before arriving on site
• Appropriate surveys are carried out
• No ACMs are disturbed accidentally
• Housing Associations remain compliant with CAR 2012

This “trigger event” checking process is fast becoming industry best practice.

Sharing asbestos information effectively

One of the biggest practical challenges to a housing association in asbestos management is getting the right information to the right people at the right time.

Challenges include:

• Contractors using outdated reports
• Confusion over the latest survey version
• Difficulty accessing documents while on site

The TEAMS Enterprise cloud provides real-time access to asbestos data, so contractors and stakeholders can consult ACM locations, floorplans, and survey histories. This reduces the risk of accidental disturbance and improves transparency across the supply chain.

Compliance Reporting and Audit Trails

Housing associations must be able to prove that they are managing asbestos safely. This means having access to:

• Survey histories
• Reinspection records
• Action logs
• Risk assessments
• Documentation and certificates

Manual systems can make this difficult, especially across large portfolios.

Digital platforms simplify this by maintaining a full audit trail for every property, with all survey and action data stored chronologically. This helps demonstrate compliance during audits, inspections, or internal reviews.

Conclusion

Housing associations do not have to remove all asbestos from their properties. In many cases, managing asbestos safely in situ is fully compliant with UK regulations – provided that ACMs are identified, recorded, communicated, and monitored correctly.

Effective management depends on:

• Accurate asbestos data
• Clear workflows
• Good communication
• Reliable documentation
• Up-to-date registers
• Consistent monitoring

Would you like to learn more about how TEAMS Software can help you manage asbestos data effectively? Contact us today!