Legionella Risk Assessments in Harrow & North West London

Landlords must assess and control the risk of legionella in a let property's water system, but no law requires a legionella certificate, and the Health and Safety Executive says the risk in most homes is low. A dated written risk assessment is how you show you met the duty. EliteShires Property Services carries out proportionate legionella risk assessments in Harrow from £60, with the written record on the day.

Somebody has told you that you need an annual legionella certificate, and you are not sure whether that is true or whether you are being sold something. It is worth reading our answer before you pay anyone, including us.

Read this section before you buy a legionella certificate from anyone. Landlords do have a duty to assess and control the risk of legionella. But the Health and Safety Executive is explicit that the risk in most domestic rented properties is low, that a simple assessment by a competent person is usually sufficient, and that there is no requirement to hold a certificate. Companies selling mandatory-sounding annual legionella certificates to ordinary landlords are exploiting that confusion.

Legionella Risk Assessment at a glance

What legionella risk assessments with us includes

• A survey of the water system: storage, temperatures, deadlegs and unused outlets
• Identification of any genuinely higher-risk features
• A written, dated risk assessment
• The specific controls for your property, in plain terms
• An honest view on whether it needs repeating at all

What is a landlord's legionella duty?

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, landlords must assess the risk from exposure to legionella and take proportionate precautions. HSE's Approved Code of Practice L8 and its guidance for landlords set out how. The duty is to assess and control, not to certify, and HSE is clear that most landlords can assess a simple domestic system themselves if they feel competent to. For a typical house or flat with a combination boiler and no stored water, the assessment is short and the controls are largely about not leaving water to stagnate.

When is the risk genuinely higher?

Stored hot or cold water, particularly older tank and cylinder systems. Long runs of little-used pipework, deadlegs from removed appliances, and showers that are rarely used. Water stored between roughly 20 and 45 degrees. Void periods where nothing has been run for weeks. Larger or communal systems, and HMOs. Those are the situations where an assessment earns its fee and where the controls actually matter.

How it works, step by step

1. Tell us the property type and whether there is stored hot water
2. We attend and survey the system (usually well under an hour)
3. You get a written assessment and the control measures that actually apply
4. If the risk is low and the system is unchanged, we will tell you not to repeat it annually

What you end up with: A dated written risk assessment that demonstrates you discharged the duty, and, for most modern flats on a combi boiler, confirmation that you do not need an annual certificate at all.

Why people trust us

• Gas work, electrical inspection and energy assessment carried out under the relevant registrations, ask to see the card
• Every price confirmed before we attend, and not revised afterwards
• Coded observations quoted line by line, so you can take the work elsewhere
• A time slot rather than a morning-or-afternoon window
• Work photographed before and after, and reported
• We tell you when you do not need something we sell

We are building a review profile under this name and would rather show you none than borrow someone else's. Ask us for references from landlords and we will put you in touch.

Who this is for

Landlords who have been told they need a certificate, HMO licence holders, and anyone with a stored-water system or a property that has stood empty.

Mistakes we see most often

Buying an annual certificate scheme for a modern flat on a combi boiler. There is no legal requirement for a domestic landlord to hold a legionella certificate, and for most low-risk systems a one-off written assessment is sufficient unless the system changes. The genuine mistake in the other direction is ignoring a long void: water standing in pipework for weeks is exactly the condition that matters.

What affects the price

The complexity of the water system. A modern flat on a combi boiler with no stored water is a short assessment. A house with a cylinder, a cold tank, long pipe runs and unused outlets takes longer and has more to record.

Whichever applies, you are given the figure before we attend and we do not revise it afterwards. If something genuinely unforeseen turns up mid-job we stop and tell you rather than adding it to the invoice.

What we will tell you

For a modern flat on a combi boiler with no stored water, we will often tell you the risk is low, hand you a short written assessment, and advise that it does not need repeating annually unless the system changes. That is a smaller invoice than an annual certificate scheme, and it is the accurate position.

We serve these areas

Everything on this page is available across all four areas we cover. Pick your area for local detail and prices:

• Harrow (HA1, HA2, HA3)
• Kenton (HA3, NW9)
• Stanmore (HA7)
• Edgware (HA8)

Where we cover

Available across Harrow, Kenton, Stanmore, Edgware. Call and we will confirm the price for your specific property.

Booking it

Call 0203 667 1333 or use the form below. We confirm the price against your property before attending, and give you a slot rather than a vague window.

Official sources

• HSE: Legionella and landlords' responsibilities
• HSE: Legionnaires' disease, Approved Code of Practice L8

Last reviewed September 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.