On 14/03/2015 19:44, Phil L wrote:
"nemo" wrote in message
...
We're told that we need to have our rental property inspected to comply
with H&SE requirements and that it will cost £81 every two years for the
privilege.

You are legally required to carry out a risk assessment and two years is
the longest period between reviews of the assessment. They can be more
frequent and should be renewed whenever there is a change to the system.

The property is a 2-bed modern terraced house with a combi boiler. If the
CH system was installed following the manufacturer's guidelines and is
delivering hot water to the taps and shower, I don't see why an expert
inspection is required periodically. At most, a once-off inspection of the
installation should suffice, with periodic checking that water is hot at
the taps and shower[1].

Here's what the H&SE advises:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/what-you-must-do.htm

I can understand the need to take such measures for large premises -
office block, hotel, factory etc. - but OTT otherwise. It looks like an
opportunity to make easy money for those doing these inspections in most
other cases.

I'd be interested to hear the opinions of others on this.

[1] We do regular general inspections of the property anyway, but tenant
would soon complain if the shower ran cooler than normal in any case.


Ignore it.

I work for quite a few landlords who own many dozens of properties and I've
never heard of this before.

I sell insect screens for water supplies and it is surprising just how
many people, including quite large organisations, have never heard of it
before it crops up in a routine H&S review, even though it has been
required for many years.

Also, many of my relations live in council properties and they have never
been tested for legionella, so if local authorities don't bother, why should
anyone else?

Local authorities, or anybody with a large number of identical
properties can do a single group risk assessment, so don't need to look
at every individual property to comply. Testing for Legionella is not
part of the assessment. Deciding whether the water supplies are properly
protected against insects entering stored water, considered to be the
main vector, is.


--
Colin Bignell