London is where we do more Legionella risk assessments than anywhere else. We work out of Chiswick, W4, so the capital is on our doorstep, and the city's rented housing throws up the same handful of water problems again and again. Here's what we tend to find, and what it means if you let or manage property here.
London's rented homes and their plumbing
A huge share of Londoners rent, and a lot of those homes weren't built as flats. Victorian and Edwardian terraces in places like Hackney, Lambeth, Islington and Ealing have been split into two, three or four units, usually by different builders at different times. The result is plumbing that's been rerouted, extended and capped off over decades. Capped-off branches that still hold water (dead legs, in the trade) are one of the most common findings in a London conversion.
Some of these buildings still have a shared cold water tank in the loft feeding several flats, sometimes with a lid that's a sheet of hardboard. Others have a mix of combi boilers in some flats and an old vented cylinder in another. Each set-up carries a different level of risk, and a decent assessment should spell out who's responsible for which bit. That matters when the freeholder, the managing agent and three leaseholders all assume someone else is looking after the tank.
Mansion blocks and purpose-built flats
Red-brick mansion blocks around Maida Vale, Battersea, Marylebone and Kensington often have communal hot water or large central storage in a basement plant room. Long pipe runs, risers that get warm and flats that sit empty while they're between lets or being refurbished all make temperature control harder. Post-war council estates and newer blocks of flats bring their own versions of the same issue, with booster pumps, roof tanks and little-used cleaners' sinks and bin-store taps.
HMOs
London has a lot of houses in multiple occupation, and many boroughs run additional or selective licensing schemes on top of the national mandatory scheme. Check your own council's rules, because conditions and paperwork vary from borough to borough. Even where a Legionella risk assessment isn't specifically named, having a current one makes the water side of a licence application or inspection much simpler. Our guide to HMO licensing and Legionella goes through what councils commonly look for.
Very hard water, and why it matters
Most of London is supplied by Thames Water. Affinity Water serves parts of the north and north-west, parts of the east are on Essex & Suffolk Water and parts of the far south are on SES Water. Almost all of it is hard to very hard, because so much of it comes from the chalk and the Thames and Lee. You can check your own street with the Thames Water postcode checker, or your supplier's equivalent if you're not on Thames.
Hard water leaves limescale, and scale gives bacteria somewhere to settle. In London flats we routinely find shower heads furred up inside, calcified hoses and TMV strainers clogged with grit. That's why descaling showers is a standard part of Legionella maintenance here, and why TMV servicing intervals in London can end up shorter than you'd expect.
Who we work for in London
- Private landlords with one flat or a handful across a few boroughs. See do landlords need a Legionella risk assessment?
- Managing and letting agents who need a consistent report format across a portfolio.
- Freeholders and residents' management companies responsible for communal tanks and plant rooms.
- Schools, nurseries and care homes, where holidays, empty rooms and vulnerable users change the picture.
- Offices, shops and restaurants, including quiet floors left over from hybrid working.
If the assessment turns up a dodgy tank or a run of dead legs, our remedial works team can put it right, and we can arrange water sampling if there's a reason for it. There's more on loft tanks in our post on cold water tank inspections.
Getting to you
We come to most London jobs by van, and since the ULEZ now covers every borough, that's something we plan around rather than something you need to worry about. Inner London parking is the usual headache. If your street is in a controlled parking zone, a visitor permit or a parking bay suspension saves us circling the block, and it's worth mentioning when you book. Central jobs inside the Congestion Charge zone are fine, we just plan them in. Tell us about entry phones, key safes and tenants' working hours, and we'll arrange access with them directly if you'd like.
London boroughs we cover
We go anywhere in Greater London, City included:
- Barking and Dagenham
- Barnet
- Bexley
- Brent
- Bromley
- Camden
- City of London
- Croydon
- Ealing
- Enfield
- Greenwich
- Hackney
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Haringey
- Harrow
- Havering
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Islington
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Kingston upon Thames
- Lambeth
- Lewisham
- Merton
- Newham
- Redbridge
- Richmond upon Thames
- Southwark
- Sutton
- Tower Hamlets
- Waltham Forest
- Wandsworth
- Westminster
Not sure what you need? Our Legionella FAQs cover the basics, or see the other areas we cover.