The dangers of asbestos have been known for some time and UK legislation now includes requirements to manage the risk from asbestos in communal areas of residential properties.
This means that those responsible for those areas must make a presumption that materials in them contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence to the contrary. If you're responsible for such areas, you therefore need to produce and maintain up-to-date records of the location of the asbestos - known as an asbestos register. The only effective way to do this is to have a survey conducted.