The real estate industry is calling for the release of the list of Mr Fluffy homes to help agents keep track of properties that have the stigmatized history.
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Real estate agents and property managers have joined the peak industry body in calling for the 1049 Mr Fluffy homes list to be made available to enable the checking of homes they list for sale or to manage.
Agents say they have been placed in a difficult situation because while they are aware of the importance of full disclosure they feel they don't have all of the information.
More than 200 real estate industry members attended an asbestos forum on Wednesday held to explain the Mr Fluffy situation and obligations the sector faced.
New guidelines were released for real estate agents last month following the Real Estate Institute of the ACT calling for clarification over the disclosure issue.
Speaking at the forum, REIACT chief executive officer Ron Bell said he had asked the government for a copy of the list but had so far been refused.
"So far we're not winning that argument but we'll press on," he told the forum.
Mr Bell said he wanted the REIACT to be the repository of the list and it would not be made publicly available.
He said it would be a danger to release the list publicly but the institute could handle it on a confidential basis so agents could check individual properties.
During the forum the head of the newly formed Asbestos Taskforce, Andrew Kefford, outlined the government's position on why it had not publicly disclosed the list.
An attendee challenged him as to why the government did not have the same duty of disclosure over the stigmatized properties as the agents were required to uphold.
Mr Kefford said the government was considering ways to make the information available to those who needed it but it had to be balanced against the privacy of the homeowners.
He said advice to the government at this point was that it did not have a legal duty to disclose the information but he was willing to work with the institute about ways to share the information.
LJ Hooker Manuka principal Stephen Thompson said agents and property managers should be able to check homes against a register held by the institute or even the Asbestos Taskforce.
He said while people's privacy should be protected and a list should not be displayed willy-nilly in public, it should be available to those in the professional services industry.
"I think if we do it that way then they're not disclosing the list but we as agents can do the right thing," Mr Thompson said.
He said the agency had put in new processes as a result of the heightened awareness of the issue and clients had to disclose whether the home was a Mr Fluffy.
Berkely Residential principal Bill Lyristakis said agents should be able to check properties against a list to help fulfil the disclosure responsibility and safeguard the buyer.
"I'm very concerned that we don't have the list of properties that are affected to enable us to carry out due diligence," he said.
"Nobody wants to do the wrong thing but arming yourself with the right information is what's difficult at the moment."
Luton Properties licensed agent Christine Shaw said she would like to see a modified distribution process where agents or principals could quote their license numbers in order to check a property.
She said she thought that an asbestos report should also join the other four mandatory reports that are required when a property is put on the market.
"I would like the ACT government to have a focus on that, while it does add cost to a sales process, and no one wants to do that, the risk is too great I believe," Ms Shaw said.
The institute has also developed a list of statements it strongly recommends that agency principals, managers and property managers use in all agreements and contracts.
