3-minute read
As a landlord, you have certain legal responsibilities when it comes to the health and safety of your tenants, which includes assessing and controlling the risk of legionella exposure in your rental property. Here’s how to go about it.
Legionella is a type of bacterium found in water, which can cause a pneumonia-type disease called Legionnaire’s disease. Legionella is found naturally in freshwater, but can contaminate water systems (water tanks and hot tubs, for example) and then cause illness if people breathe in contaminated air.
Landlords are responsible for keeping their properties safe and free from health hazards, and when it comes to legionella, this means assessing the risks and taking measures to control them if necessary.
In most houses and flats, the risk of legionella contamination is relatively low, but it’s a good idea to do a legionella risk assessment to make sure you’ve identified any areas of concern. Most landlords can assess the risk themselves and can also implement simple measures to keep the risk low.
When you’re doing a legionella risk assessment, consider the following points:
In summary, you should be thinking about the temperature and movement of the water in your property. You can use a legionella risk assessment template like this free one from the RLA to go through the systems in your property and identify any risks.
It’s worth saying that although completing a risk assessment template is a good idea and could be useful for your own records, you’re not legally required to record the findings of your legionella risk assessment. This is only a legal requirement for businesses with five or more employees.
Your email address will be used by Simply Business so that we can send you the latest guides, offers and tips. You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time. For more information, check out the Simply Business privacy policy.
There are a number of things you can do to help keep your rental property water supply free from legionella. For example:
You can do these tasks yourself if you feel capable, or you can call in a plumber to help.
You should also make sure your tenants are aware of the risks of legionella and that they play their own part in reducing the risk. For example they should:
It’s a good idea to put this in writing - as part of the rental property manual, for example - for your tenants to refer to.
For many landlords, the risk assessment won’t identify any serious legionella risks and so no further action needs to be taken. If this is the case, be sure to keep any existing risk-controlling measures in place, and to assess the risks again if anything changes, and at the start of a new tenancy. Health and safety law does not require landlords to get a legionella test certificate, and the HSE says that legionella testing is only very rarely necessary for domestic water systems.
However, if your risk assessment has identified a reason for concern, you may decide to test the water for legionella. You can do this yourself: there are a number of companies that will post you a kit, which you can send back for lab testing. The cost of the legionella testing kit is usually around £40-£50. Once the legionella test is complete, the lab will send you the results. They will usually send you a test certificate, or provide follow-up advice if legionella has been detected.
What are your top health and safety tips for other landlords? Tell us in the comments.
Over 200,000 UK landlord policies, a 9/10 customer rating and claims handled by an award-winning team. Looking to switch or start a new policy? Run a quick landlord insurance quote today.
Start your quoteWe create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always take professional advice. Read our full disclaimer
Keep up to date with Simply Business. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and follow us on social media.
Subscribe to our newsletter6th Floor99 Gresham StreetLondonEC2V 7NG
Sol House29 St Katherine's StreetNorthamptonNN1 2QZ
© Copyright 2022 Simply Business. All Rights Reserved. Simply Business is a trading name of Xbridge Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Registration No: 313348). Xbridge Limited (No: 3967717) has its registered office at 6th Floor, 99 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NG.