Guide

Asbestos and Tenant Rights: What You Can Demand From Your Landlord

13 September 202610 min readby amianto.info Editorial Team

Discovering asbestos in a rented property is alarming — but tenants have more legal protection than most realise. Across the UK, Australia, France, Spain and Ireland, landlords carry statutory duties to manage asbestos-containing materials (ACMs), and enforcement routes exist when those duties go unmet. This guide explains what your landlord must do, what you can demand, and how to escalate when they fail to act.

Also available in: Español, Français

Key takeaways

Tenants do not inherit the landlord's duty holder obligations for asbestos management — those remain with whoever controls the premises.
In the UK, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 allows tenants to sue their landlord directly if hazardous ACMs make the property unfit.
Neighbouring renovation works are a common source of uncontrolled exposure — report to HSE (UK), Safe Work (AU), DREETS (FR), or ITSS (ES) if you suspect ACMs are being disturbed without controls.
Landlords must notify tenants before works that will disturb ACMs and must provide alternative accommodation if required.

What rights does a tenant have when asbestos is found?

A tenant's rights when asbestos is discovered depend on jurisdiction, but the common thread is this: the landlord — as the person in control of the premises — holds the primary legal duty to manage the risk. Tenants cannot be left without recourse simply because they do not own the building. In the UK, the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012) places the duty to manage on the person who has contractual responsibility for maintenance and repair of non-domestic premises. For residential tenants, the Housing Act 2004 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 create parallel obligations: a property containing disturbed or deteriorating ACMs can constitute a category 1 hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), obliging the landlord to act.

In Australia, the WHS Act and WHS Regulations place a positive duty on the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) who manages or controls a workplace to manage asbestos risk. For residential rentals, state-level residential tenancy legislation applies — in most states, a landlord must ensure the property is in a reasonable state of repair and not hazardous to health. In France, the landlord's obligation derives from the Code civil obligation to deliver a property fit for its intended use and maintain it throughout the tenancy. The diagnostic technique amiante (DTA) must be provided to any tenant of a building constructed before 1997. Tenants in Spain are protected under the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos and the broader obligations of RD 396/2006.

The landlord's statutory duty — what the law requires

In the UK, non-domestic duty holders under CAR 2012 must identify ACMs, assess their condition, and produce a written management plan. For residential landlords, the HHSRS framework means a local authority can serve an improvement notice or prohibition order if ACMs pose an imminent risk. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 allows tenants to sue their landlord directly in the county court if the property is unfit — and asbestos