Asbestos in common areas: census and management

Many buildings constructed up to the early 1990s still contain asbestos materials in roofing, flues, tanks, pipes and insulation of the common parts. Law 257/1992 banned the extraction and trade of asbestos, but it does not require the immediate removal of what is already in place: if the material is intact and does not release fibres, the duty is to survey it, assess its state of preservation and manage it over time. Ignoring its presence exposes the owners to a health risk and the manager to liability.

The regulatory framework

Besides Law 257/1992, the operational reference is the Ministerial Decree of 6 September 1994, which sets the criteria for risk assessment, control and maintenance of asbestos-containing materials in buildings, and for remediation when necessary. The rules distinguish between friable materials, which release fibres more easily, and compact materials such as asbestos-cement sheets, and define when periodic control is enough and when a remediation intervention is needed.

The census and state assessment

The first step is to ascertain the presence of asbestos in the common parts through an inspection by a competent technician, who identifies the suspect materials and, if needed, has them analysed. This is followed by the assessment of the state of preservation to establish the risk of fibre release.

• Identifying asbestos-containing materials and their location in the building.
• Laboratory analysis of samples when the presence is not certain.
• State assessment: intact, deteriorated or damaged material.
• Risk classification and choice between periodic control and remediation.
• Drawing up a technical report to be kept among the condominium documents.

The control and maintenance programme

When the material is intact and it is decided to keep it in place, the Ministerial Decree of 6 September 1994 requires the adoption of a control and maintenance programme: periodic inspections, procedures for activities that may disturb the material and appointment of an officer responsible for coordination and for keeping the documentation. The condominium must also notify the competent local health authority of the presence of asbestos when required, for inclusion in the territorial mapping.

When remediation is needed

If the material is deteriorated or damaged and releases fibres, action is needed through remediation, which may consist of removal, encapsulation or confinement, according to the technical assessment. The works must be entrusted to firms registered in the relevant registers, with a work plan submitted to the health authority, and the waste disposed of as hazardous waste through authorised operators. Removal is therefore not the only solution, but it becomes mandatory when the risk is no longer controllable.

Decisions and costs in the condominium

Interventions on asbestos in the common parts are resolved by the owners' meeting with the majorities of Article 1136 of the Italian Civil Code and the costs are shared under Articles 1123 and following. The manager, under Article 1130, sees to the preservation of the common parts and the proper management of the risk, and may adopt the urgent measures of Article 1135 in the event of a health hazard.

Documenting and monitoring over time

Managing asbestos is a multi-year commitment that requires keeping reports, inspection records and communications to the health authority, as well as scheduling periodic checks. With AmministraPro the manager files the technical documentation, plans the inspections and sets reminders for the control-programme deadlines. The features for document and compliance management are described in /funzioni, while the plans with their costs are on the /prezzi page.