An asbestos survey is mandatory before renovation or demolition work if the building was built, or the materials to be removed were installed, before 1994. The obligation is based on the Asbestos Act (684/2015) and the Government Decree on the Safety of Asbestos Work (798/2015), which took effect on 1 January 2016. Commissioning the survey is the responsibility of whoever orders the work, in practice usually the building owner or the housing company.
This article covers when a survey is needed, when it became mandatory, whether it applies to detached houses, what the law requires of the survey itself and what happens if it is skipped. At the end you will find a checklist for assessing your own renovation.
When is an asbestos survey required?
The rule of thumb is simple: a survey is needed when two conditions are met at the same time.
- The building or its materials date from before 1994. What matters is not just the year the house was built, but when the materials to be removed were installed. If a 1970s bathroom was retiled in the 2000s, the old fillers and adhesives may still be underneath the new tiles.
- The work involves demolishing, drilling, sanding or otherwise breaking structures. Asbestos is dangerous when fibres are released into the air. Intact, undisturbed asbestos-containing material does not usually cause exposure.
Typical jobs that require a survey include bathroom, kitchen and pipe renovations, replacing floor coverings, window and door replacements, renewing ventilation ducts, facade and roof renovations, pipe and riser renovations in housing companies, and demolishing a building or part of it. Asbestos has been found in, among other things, tile adhesives, wall fillers, vinyl flooring and its adhesives, pipe insulation, ventilation duct seals and fibre cement boards.
Simply painting surfaces or replacing loose furniture does not usually require a survey. But if you strip old wallpaper, sand fillers or pull up flooring, you are already disturbing the structures, and a survey is needed.
It also pays to think about timing in advance. When the survey report is ready before you request contractor quotes, contractors can price the work correctly and an asbestos finding will not surprise you halfway through the renovation. In a housing company, the survey should be part of project planning so the results can be taken into account in the contract documents and schedule.
When did asbestos surveys become mandatory?
The current, explicit survey obligation has been in force since 1 January 2016. That is when the Asbestos Act (684/2015) and the Government Decree on the Safety of Asbestos Work (798/2015) took effect, the decree replacing the earlier decree on asbestos work. Asbestos work was regulated in Finland before that, but the 2016 reform made it clear that the developer or the party ordering the work must establish whether asbestos is present before demolition or repair work begins, and that this information must be available to those doing the work.
The 1994 cut-off comes from the asbestos ban. The manufacture and import of asbestos-containing materials were banned in Finland from the start of 1993, and their sale and use from the start of 1994. Before that, asbestos was used in hundreds of different building products, so all structures dating from before 1994 must be treated as potentially containing asbestos until a survey shows otherwise.
The basic obligation has stayed the same since 2016. In the coming years, the EU's new asbestos directive will tighten in particular the occupational exposure limit for workers. For an up-to-date overview of the regulations, see the article asbestos survey regulation 2026, and for a broader picture, asbestos legislation in Finland.
Is an asbestos survey mandatory for a detached house?
Yes, if the house was built before 1994 and the renovation involves demolishing or breaking structures. The law makes no exception for detached houses. When you hire a contractor for the renovation, you are the party ordering the work and you are responsible for making sure asbestos has been investigated before the work begins. The contractor needs to know whether the materials to be removed contain asbestos so that the work can be done safely.
More on the price and content of a detached-house survey: asbestos survey for a detached house.
Investigating asbestos is essential even if you do the renovation yourself. If a material contains asbestos, removing it is licensed work that may only be carried out by a company holding an asbestos removal permit. So you cannot remove asbestos-containing tile adhesive or vinyl flooring yourself, even if the rest of the renovation is DIY.
Responsibility is divided as follows:
- Detached house: the owner of the house.
- Housing company: the housing company for renovations it is responsible for, such as pipe and facade renovations, and the shareholder for renovations inside the apartment.
- Commercial and public properties: the party ordering the project, meaning the property owner or, by agreement, the tenant.
What does the law require of the survey?
An asbestos survey must be a reliable investigation, not a visual estimate. In practice, a survey that meets the legal requirements includes the following:
- Coverage: the survey covers all the structures and materials that the renovation or demolition will affect.
- Samples and laboratory analysis: samples are taken from suspect materials and analysed in a laboratory. Asbestipro analyses samples with a JEOL SEM-EDS electron microscope.
- Competent surveyor: the party ordering the work must make sure the surveyor has sufficient expertise.
- Written report: sampling points, results and the location of asbestos-containing materials are documented in a report that the contractor and, if needed, the removal company receive before the work begins.
If the survey finds asbestos, the removal is carried out by a company holding an asbestos removal permit, and the work must be notified in advance to the occupational safety authority. Asbestipro carries out surveys and sample analyses, not removal work. Even so, the report is exactly the document the removal company uses to plan its work.
What if no survey is done?
The omission usually comes to light on the worksite at the latest. The occupational safety authority supervises asbestos work and can stop the work. Breaching the regulations can lead to fines, criminal liability for an occupational safety offence and liability for damages if someone is exposed to asbestos.
The practical consequences are often even heavier. If asbestos-containing material is removed unknowingly, fibres can spread to the rest of the home or the stairwell, and the clean-up then has to be done using asbestos work methods. The renovation is delayed and the costs end up many times higher than the price of a survey.
When is no survey needed?
- The building and all materials being handled date from 1994 or later.
- The work does not disturb the structures, for example surface painting only.
- A survey already exists that covers exactly the materials now being handled.
If you only want to check a single material, such as one tile or a piece of flooring, you can send an asbestos sample to the laboratory. Analysis of an asbestos sample costs 39,90 € + VAT. A sample only tells you about that particular material, however, so a larger renovation requires a survey.
Checklist: do you need an asbestos survey?
- Was the building completed before 1994?
- Were the materials to be removed installed before 1994, including layers left underneath newer surfaces?
- Will the renovation involve removing, drilling, sanding or detaching tiles, flooring, fillers, insulation, boards or pipes?
- Is there no survey report that covers exactly these materials?
- Do you know who is ordering the work: you, the housing company or someone else?
- Will the report be ready before the contractor starts?
If you answered yes to the first three questions and no comprehensive report exists, an asbestos survey is needed before the renovation begins.
How to order an asbestos survey
Asbestipro carries out on-site asbestos surveys in Southern Finland. A survey costs from 119 € incl. VAT, and demolition sites carry a 100 € surcharge. See the detailed breakdown on the asbestos survey price page. From elsewhere in Finland, you can post a single material to us as an asbestos sample.
Once you know the building's construction year and the scope of the renovation, order an asbestos survey in good time so the report is ready before the first tile comes off.