There is no free standing duty to hold a survey. There are two duties that make one necessary in practice: the duty on whoever maintains non-domestic premises to find out whether asbestos is present and manage it, and the duty to ensure asbestos is identified before work that could disturb it. Almost every real situation falls under one of those two, and the survey is how both are normally satisfied.
When one is required in practice
You are responsible for maintaining non-domestic premises, including the common parts of residential blocks. Or work is planned that will break into the fabric of a building built or refurbished before 2000, whether that is a full demolition or a kitchen refit. In the first case the survey supports the register; in the second it defines what the work must avoid.
When it is sensible rather than required
Buying a property. Selling one where a buyer's surveyor has flagged suspect material. Taking a lease of a building whose register you have not seen. Any of those is a case where a few hundred pounds buys a fact that would otherwise be argued about. A private homeowner living in their own house is outside the duty and may still want to know.
What it is for
To locate asbestos containing materials, identify or presume them, record their condition, assess the risk they present, and recommend what to do. Everything downstream depends on that record: the register, the management plan, the information given to contractors, and the price of any work. A survey is not a certificate that a building is safe and never claims to be.
How long it lasts
There is no expiry date. It describes the building on the day it was done, and it stops being accurate when the building changes or a material deteriorates. That is why the survey recommends a reinspection interval and why keeping the register updated matters more than the age of the original document.
Questions people ask about do i need an asbestos survey
Is an asbestos survey a legal requirement for landlords?
For the common parts of a block, the duty to manage applies and a survey is the normal way to meet it. Inside a let dwelling the duty does not apply, and repair obligations still make knowing what is there sensible.
Do I need one before a small job?
If the job will break into the fabric of a pre-2000 building, the identification duty applies to whoever is having the work done. A small intrusive survey of the affected area is the usual answer.
Is a survey needed to sell a house?
No. Buyers and their surveyors often ask about asbestos, and there is no duty to survey or remove before a sale.