Asbestos in pre-2000 homes
How should a buyer separate asbestos-cement slates, the detached garage and a coating nobody has sampled when all three are mentioned together?
Separate the asbestos-cement slates, the detached garage they cover, and a coating nobody has sampled. The survey has named all three. It has not sampled the slates or the coating, and looking does not identify asbestos. Buildings built or refurbished before 2000 can contain it. The visit has not identified the coating, and it has not tested the garage structure. Keep the material question, the outbuilding and the unsampled coating as three open items.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Asbestos-cement slates were widely used on garages and small roofs. A coating on top of them is still only a surface until someone instructed to sample it has done so. A home survey does not identify asbestos by looking. The detached garage is a separate building from the house. Comment on its frame is not an identification of the sheets. The name in the report is a caution based on age and appearance, not a laboratory result.
Ask the solicitor for any record of what the garage roof is and whether anyone has already sampled it. Do not ask the seller to disturb the sheets. A specialist asbestos survey is a different instruction from this home survey, and a lender may ask about outbuildings in its own way. The coating stays unidentified. The garage stays an outbuilding the house survey did not turn into a materials test.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What was recorded about the garage slates without a sample?
- Is the coating described as unsampled?
- Does the report keep the garage separate from the house roof?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the slates, the garage and the coating as three items.
- Do not disturb the sheets or the coating.
- Ask whether any proper sample has already been taken.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Does a painted surface mean the slates can be left unmentioned?
No. Paint is the coating nobody has sampled. It does not identify the sheets and it does not retire the note. Buildings from before 2000 can contain asbestos. The survey did not identify the coating. Leaving it off a later form would hide a limit the report has already stated.
Is the house roof included in the garage slate note?
No. The note is the detached garage, its slates and the coating on them. The house roof is a different covering unless the report says the same sheets are there. Do not copy this caution onto the house, and do not clear the house roof because the garage was the only place named.