If you run a house in multiple occupation, Legionella is one of those things that can quietly hold up a licence application. Not because it's complicated, but because people don't realise the council may want to see it. Here's how it fits in and how to get ahead of it.
Spring's when a lot of HMO landlords start thinking about the next academic year, renewals and new licence applications. So it's a good moment to make sure the water side of things is sorted before the paperwork lands.
Where Legionella fits into HMO licensing
HMO licensing comes from the Housing Act 2004. Larger HMOs (five or more people forming two or more households) need a mandatory licence across England, and many councils also run additional or selective licensing schemes that pull in smaller properties.
The licensing rules themselves don't contain a special Legionella clause. Your duty to manage the risk comes from the same place as every other landlord's: the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, COSHH and the HSE's Approved Code of Practice L8. We covered that in more detail in do landlords need a Legionella risk assessment?
What licensing adds is scrutiny. Councils assess housing conditions under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), and the safety and hygiene of the water supply is part of that. On top of that, each council sets its own licence conditions and decides what documents it wants with an application.
What councils commonly ask for
This is where it varies, and we'd always tell you to check your own council's website or licence conditions rather than rely on what a neighbouring borough does. That said, these are the kinds of things we often see requested or checked:
- a copy of a current Legionella risk assessment for the property
- evidence that any actions from the assessment have been dealt with
- a condition that you keep the assessment under review and produce it on request
- records of routine checks, such as hot water temperatures or flushing of empty rooms
Some councils ask for it up front with the application. Others don't ask at all but expect you to have it if an officer inspects. Either way, having a tidy, up-to-date assessment in a folder saves a lot of last-minute scrambling.
Why HMOs carry more risk than a typical flat
A one-bed flat with a combi boiler is about as low risk as water systems get. HMOs tend to be different. In a typical shared house we'd expect to find some of these:
- Stored water. A loft tank feeding several bathrooms, and a big hot water cylinder to keep up with demand.
- Lots of showers. Showers create the fine spray that carries Legionella, and in an HMO there might be four or five of them.
- Rooms that sit empty. When a tenant moves out and the room's vacant for a few weeks, its en-suite isn't being used. That's stagnant water.
- Old conversion pipework. Houses that have been split up and refitted over the years often have dead legs and odd bits of capped-off pipe hidden in walls and floors.
- Less control over use. You can't see who's running what, and tenants sometimes turn the cylinder down to save money.
What a good HMO assessment looks at
We follow HSG274 Part 2, which is the HSE's technical guidance for hot and cold water systems. In an HMO that means checking:
- Hot water temperatures. Stored at 60°C or above, and reaching outlets at 50°C or more within about a minute.
- Cold water temperatures. Below 20°C at the taps.
- The cold water tank. Lid, insulation, overflow screen, cleanliness, and whether it's sized sensibly for the number of occupants.
- Every bathroom and kitchen. Including the ones in vacant rooms.
- Dead legs and redundant pipework. Particularly where a kitchen or bathroom has been moved.
- Showers and TMVs. Scale on heads, and whether any thermostatic mixing valves are fitted and maintained.
- Who does what. You, your agent and your tenants, and how the checks get recorded.
You'd get a written report with a risk rating, a short, prioritised action list and a simple routine to follow. It's written so you can hand it straight to your council or agent.
Simple habits that keep an HMO low risk
- Flush empty rooms. If a room's vacant, run its taps and shower weekly until it's let again, and give everything a good flush before the new tenant moves in.
- Keep the cylinder at temperature. If tenants can reach the thermostat, think about whether it should be locked or boxed in.
- Descale shower heads. Every few months is usually plenty in an ordinary house, but your assessment will say.
- Get the tank looked at. Old tanks without a proper lid are one of the most common findings in HMOs. Our remedial works team can replace or refurbish them.
- Tell tenants the basics. A short note in the welcome pack works well: don't turn the hot water down, run taps you don't use often, and report hot water that isn't getting hot.
A typical scenario
Imagine a five-bed Victorian terrace converted to an HMO about fifteen years ago. The landlord's renewing the licence and the council's form asks for a Legionella risk assessment. On the visit we'd probably find a loft tank with a loose lid, a dead leg where a utility sink used to be, and a top-floor en-suite that's been empty since the last tenant left.
None of that is a disaster. The fixes are a new lid and insect screens (or a new tank), cutting out the dead leg, and flushing the empty room weekly until it's let. Get them done, keep the receipts and the flushing log, and the landlord's in a much stronger position when the council asks.
Keeping on top of it
An HMO licence can last up to five years, and a lot can change in that time. New tenants, a refit, a long void period. Your assessment should be reviewed when things change, not just when the licence is due. Our guide on how often to review a Legionella risk assessment goes through the triggers.
If you've got several HMOs, or you'd rather someone else kept the records straight, our Legionella maintenance visits can handle the temperature checks, flushing and logging for you.
Got a licence application or renewal coming up? Give us a ring or send an enquiry and we'll get a risk assessment booked in.