Asbestos in a Geelong Rental Property: A Guide for Landlords
Plenty of Geelong's older fibro and asbestos-cement houses are rented out. A three-bedroom post-war home in Corio or Norlane, a weatherboard in Belmont with fibro eaves, or a unit with an old shed out the back can all contain asbestos, and the person who ends up deciding what to do about it is usually the owner, often with a property manager in between.
Owning a rental changes the picture a little compared with owning the house you live in. Someone else lives in the property, other tradespeople come and go on your behalf, and you cannot simply leave a problem until next weekend. This guide covers how to handle asbestos sensibly as a landlord. It is general information, not legal advice, and the rules that apply to your property are set by Victorian rental law, WorkSafe Victoria and EPA Victoria.
Start by knowing what is there
You cannot manage what you do not know about. If your rental was built before around 1990, it is worth having the likely asbestos-containing materials identified and, where it matters, tested. A visual inspection gives you a list of suspect materials and their condition, and sampling confirms whether a particular sheet actually contains asbestos. Our Asbestos Testing & Identification service explains how that works, and our guide to asbestos testing in Geelong covers sampling in more detail.
Once you know, keep a simple written record of what was found, where it is and what condition it was in. Workplaces have formal asbestos registers, and a rental house is not the same situation in most cases, but the same idea is useful. It gives your property manager something to hand to any tradesperson before they start, and it gives you a baseline to compare against at the next inspection.
Sound material can usually stay
Finding asbestos in a rental does not mean it has to come out. Bonded asbestos cement in sound condition, painted and left undisturbed, is generally regarded as low risk, and managing it in place is often the sensible approach. Our article on asbestos removal versus encapsulation covers when sealing and monitoring is reasonable and when it is not.
What changes the answer is condition and disturbance. Cracked, weathered or broken sheeting, a fence that has started to crumble, or material in a spot where repairs keep happening are the cases that usually justify removal.
Tell the trades before they start
The most common way asbestos is disturbed in a rental is not by the tenant. It is by a well-meaning tradesperson who did not know it was there. An electrician replacing a meter board, a plumber cutting into a bathroom wall, or a handyman patching eaves can release fibres in minutes if nobody warned them. Our posts on asbestos meter boards and on asbestos in bathrooms and vinyl floors cover two of the most common examples.
Make it standard practice for your property manager to pass on the asbestos record with every work order on an older property. It costs nothing and protects the tenant, the trade and you.
When a tenant reports damage
Sooner or later a tenant will call about a broken fence panel after a storm, a sheet cracked by a ball, or eaves damaged by a falling branch. The right first response is the same each time. Ask the tenant to keep people and pets away from the damaged material, not to sweep, vacuum, hose or water-blast it, and not to try to clean it up themselves. Then arrange for it to be assessed.
Victorian rental law requires rental providers to keep the property in reasonable repair and to deal with urgent repairs promptly, and damaged asbestos near where people live is not something to leave sitting. Consumer Affairs Victoria sets out the current obligations, and your property manager will know how they apply. Our guide to storm-damaged asbestos roofs and fences in Geelong walks through what happens next.
Between tenancies is the best window
If you know a bathroom, laundry floor or set of eaves will need to come out eventually, the cleanest time to do it is when the property is vacant. There is no need to work around someone's daily life, rooms can be emptied completely, and the work area can be set up without asking anyone to stay elsewhere. A vacancy is also a good moment to combine removal with the renovation that prompted it, so the property is only disrupted once.
Planned removal between tenancies tends to cost less and cause less friction than reacting to a problem with a tenant in place.
If the tenant is still living there
Sometimes the work cannot wait. In that case, the entry and notice rules under Victorian rental law apply, and your property manager will arrange access and give the tenant the required notice. We can work directly with the managing agent on keys, timing and access. For outdoor jobs on bonded material, tenants often do not need to leave, but they will need to keep out of the marked work area and close nearby windows. For indoor work or larger jobs they may need to be away for the day. Our guide to what to expect on asbestos removal day explains the process so you can brief the tenant properly.
Keep the paperwork
After licensed removal you should receive disposal records and, where it applies, a clearance certificate. Keep them with the property file. They show that the material was removed and disposed of correctly, they are useful if a future tenant or buyer asks questions, and they turn an open question into a resolved one. Our EPA-Compliant Disposal & Clearance Certificates service explains what you receive.
The short version
Find out what is in the property, record it, and share that record with every tradesperson. Leave sound material alone and monitor it, act quickly on damage, and plan larger removals for when the property is vacant. If you own or manage an older rental anywhere across Geelong and the Bellarine, contact us for an inspection or a quote and we will work in with you or your property manager.