Health and safety legislation requires everyone who rents out property (even if it’s just a room in your house) to undertake a risk assessment for Legionella. Legionella is a waterborne bacteria which can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially fatal pneumonia-like illness. Legionella is commonly found in the natural environment (e.g. lakes and rivers) but when it enters manmade water systems it can grow and spread rapidly. For this reason, it’s important to assess the risk of Legionella in your domestic plumbing and be able to demonstrate to the authorities that sufficient control measures are in place to minimise the risk to health.

The good news is that in most residential properties the risks are generally low and relatively easy to control. However, it is still very important that the risk assessment is done by a competent (i.e. trained and experienced) person and reviewed on a regular basis (at least once every two years).

From £45