Asbestos in Spanish buildings: could your flat have it?

When asbestos was banned in Spain

Spain has banned asbestos since 14 June 2002, when the Order of 7 December 2001 published in the BOE, the official state gazette, came into force. A building built or refurbished before then may have received materials containing asbestos, and anything already installed was allowed to stay in use until removed or worn out.

The Order of 7 December 2001, published in the Official Gazette on 14 December, banned placing asbestos fibres and products containing them on the market. It came into force six months later, on 14 June 2002, with a further six months to sell stock already made. That is why the year of construction is the first clue: an older building may have received asbestos materials, while a newer one is unlikely to have them originally.

The same Order let products already installed stay in use until removed or until the end of their useful life. In other words, Spanish law does not require asbestos to be removed from a building just because it is there; what it regulates is how it is removed and who may do it.

Where does asbestos usually turn up in a Spanish home?

Mostly in fibre cement, the asbestos material used most in Spain. Technical note NTP 1006 from INSST, the national occupational safety institute, names drainpipes, water tanks and lightweight roofing as the most common items, and the Ministry of Health places buildings constructed up to the 1990s in a medium-risk group.

The asbestos material most used in Spain was fibre cement (fibrocemento). Technical note NTP 1006 from the national institute for safety at work names drainpipes, water tanks and lightweight roofs as the most common elements. The Ministry of Health's list of places to inspect adds chimney and ventilation ducts, false ceilings, floor tiles and their adhesives, and insulation on boilers and pipes.

The Ministry's guidelines for municipal inventories rate buildings built up to the 1990s as medium risk, a period when asbestos fibre cement was common in downpipes, water tanks, planters and roof sheets. In a block of flats these tend to be in common areas: the roof terrace, the light well, the meter room or the downpipes running down the façade.

Is it dangerous if it is in good condition?

Generally not very: according to technical note NTP 1006 from INSST, fibre cement in good condition carries a low risk of releasing fibres. The danger comes from breaking, cutting, drilling or dry-cleaning it, or when it is badly worn, which is why any removal must be done by a registered asbestos contractor.

According to the institute, fibre cement in good condition generally carries a low risk of releasing fibres. The problem comes when it is broken, cut, drilled or dry-cleaned, and when the material is badly worn. So what matters is not only whether there is asbestos, but what state it is in and whether a renovation will disturb it.

Do not handle it yourself. Removal and repairs of asbestos materials are carried out by companies entered in Spain's register of firms working with asbestos (RERA), with a work plan approved by the labour authority. Worth knowing before you buy, because it changes the budget for any work on the roof or downpipes.

What the law requires today

Law 7/2022 on waste, in force since 10 April 2022, requires every town hall to list installations containing asbestos and publish a timetable to remove them, starting with the riskiest; the most hazardous public installations must be dealt with before 2028. Having asbestos does not, on its own, oblige an owner to remove it.

Spain's waste law, Law 7/2022, in force since 10 April 2022, required town halls to draw up within a year an inventory of installations and sites with asbestos, with a public timetable for removing it. Removal must be prioritised by hazard and by exposure of the most vulnerable people, and the highest-risk public installations must be dealt with before 2028.

According to the Ministry of Health's guidelines, the inventory covers the whole municipality whoever the owner is, homes included. Ask the town hall whether it has published its inventory and whether the building is on it, and ask the owners' association whether any removal is scheduled and who pays for it.

What the report does, and what it cannot tell you

Check 04 of the report answers “Could there be asbestos?” using the year of construction published by the Spanish Cadastre (Catastro). If the building predates 2002, it marks asbestos as possible by year and shows a timeline from construction to the ban, the years when asbestos fibre cement was in common use; if it is newer, it says asbestos is unlikely in the original materials. Where sources give different dates, it uses the oldest.

What it cannot tell you, plainly: today it does not consult any asbestos inventory, so it does not know whether your building contains asbestos, where, or in what state. Nor does it see renovations that removed or added materials. It is a pointer to what to ask. Start with the free report; the Essential report costs €11 and the Complete report €19, with 22 checks on official sources, as a PDF in minutes, with a single payment and no account.

What to do before you buy

Check the building's year and ask the property manager whether there is fibre cement on roofs, downpipes or water tanks, whether any has been removed and whether work is planned. Read the owners' meeting minutes (actas) for recent years. On the viewing, look for grey corrugated sheets on roof terraces and light wells and grey downpipes, without touching them.

If you plan to renovate, first commission an inventory of asbestos materials and, if needed, a laboratory sample analysis. The report does not replace an on-site technical inspection of the building: it tells you what to check, and a surveyor tells you what is there.