Why it comes up and what to do early
Buyers' surveyors look at outbuildings, and a garage with corrugated cement sheets is the kind of thing that gets a line in a report. HSE draws the line at 2000, so a garage dating from before it is treated as containing asbestos unless a survey proves otherwise.
It is far better to know before they do. Sort out the facts in this order:
- Date the garage, using the deeds, a completion certificate or an old survey.
- Take pictures of the roof from the garden and stay off it.
- Book a survey if the date or the material is in doubt.
- Decide what to do, with the report in hand.
The earlier you act, the more options you have. A sale with an exchange date weeks away leaves little time for a survey and a removal, and any work done in a rush is more likely to disturb the sheets. A buyer who is told early and shown a report has time to take advice, whereas one who hears late may simply ask for a price reduction or step back. Our page on telling if roof sheets are asbestos sets out the first steps.
Disclosure in general terms
When you sell, you answer questions about the property, and sellers are asked about known problems and hazards. If you know or suspect the garage roof is asbestos cement, say so, and offer the survey. A concealed problem that surfaces after completion is far worse for everyone than a disclosed one with a report attached.
Your solicitor is the right person to advise on what the forms require and how to word an answer. Different buyers treat the same roof differently, and some will simply ask for it to be dealt with.
What you can control is the evidence. A survey report that names the material and its condition turns an open question into a documented one. A note of what the roof is, with photographs and a date, lets a buyer's surveyor close the point quickly.
If the sheets are sound, a plain statement that they are asbestos cement in reasonable condition and will not be disturbed gives a buyer and their surveyor something definite to weigh before an offer.
Leave it, cover it or remove it before selling
There are three routes, and each has a cost and a consequence.
- Leave it: the roof stays, you provide the survey and say what it is. Sound sheets can sit undisturbed, and the buyer decides what to do later.
- Cover it: new sheeting goes over the old, fixed without drilling through the asbestos cement. The asbestos stays, and the buyer is told.
- Remove it: the sheets are lifted by a contractor, wrapped and taken away, and the garage gets a new roof.
MyJobQuote's September 2026 guide has removal at around £2,750 and a survey at £325. Treat these as national guide figures for planning, not a budget for your garage. Removal ends the question for the next owner, and covering defers it.
Which suits depends on timing and money. If the sale is a few weeks off and the sheets are sound, leaving them with a report may be simplest. If they are cracked, removal before the sale avoids a repair being negotiated at the worst moment. Pages on over-cladding and removal set out each route.
What paperwork helps a sale
Whatever you choose, build a file for the buyer. A buyer who can see the findings and the work done has little left to ask, and a tidy file also helps your solicitor answer enquiries without a delay of days.
- The asbestos survey report, with the date and the surveyor's name.
- Photographs of the roof before any work.
- For removal, the contractor's description of the method and the waste paperwork. Where a roofer clears it, the waste is trade waste and moves on a consignment note with a registered carrier.
- For covering, a written description of how the new sheets were fixed.
- Any invoice naming the work and the date.
If the main roof needs work before the sale as well, deal with both in one go, so the garage and the house are priced and scheduled together, with scaffold and access shared where the two roofs allow it. Ask each firm to confirm in writing what the figure covers, including whether VAT is in it.
Tell us when the sale is planned and what the roof looks like. We work from the survey and quote one written total for the route you pick. See garage and asbestos roofs for the full range.
