Asbestos in pre-2000 homes

There are vinyl floor tiles in a 1970s cloakroom. Is that the same note as a bitumen sink pad?

No. The tiles are a floor product in that room, while a bitumen sink pad under a kitchen sink should stay in the kitchen sentence if the survey mentioned one. Vinyl and thermoplastic tiles in a pre-2000 house can contain asbestos. The survey can see exposed tiles, but it cannot tell by looking, it has not sampled them, and the surveyor is not an asbestos inspector.

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?

A 1970s cloakroom is inside the period HSE talks about, when asbestos was used in a range of building products including flooring. The tiles might be the original floor or a later cover. Stick-on vinyl over an older tile is common and invisible once it is down. HSE distinguishes the materials: flooring is not a textured ceiling coating, and it is not asbestos cement. The risk HSE is concerned with is disturbance. Leaving intact tiles under a mat is not the same as grinding them off with a hired machine. The home survey, including the Level 3 scope, does not include taking a sample to a laboratory.

Do not heat, scrape or smash a tile at the viewing to see the backing. If you will level the floor or lay a new one that needs the old tiles gone, tell the fitter the survey did not test them and ask for a competent approach before they are broken. Ask the seller whether any floor layers were left in place. Their answer is not a certificate. If the report also flags a sink pad, do not let the fitter’s quote for the cloakroom claim to have “dealt with the asbestos” in the kitchen. Different rooms, different products, neither sampled.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Did you see the cloakroom tiles themselves, or only a covering over them?
Are you noting them as possible asbestos-containing flooring, without a sample?
Is any sink pad a separate item? Please keep it separate.

What are the typical next steps?

Do not scrape a tile up to identify the backing.
If the floor will be removed, get competent advice and say it was not sampled.
Do not combine the cloakroom tiles and a kitchen sink pad into one clearance.

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 1970s date mean the tiles definitely contain asbestos?

No. It means they are the right age to be treated as suspect until someone competent says otherwise. The survey has not tested them.

Are cracked tiles an emergency?

They are a reason not to grind or scrape the crumbs up as ordinary dust. Take competent advice. The survey has not graded an emergency, and it has not sampled the pieces.