UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am in a two floor town house and have stopped for a good time to use the upstairs shower. I want to gauge whether this would put anyone at risk of legionnaires. There is no 'stagnant water' in the tray but there was a flow of water from the shower thermostatic BAR when I unscrewed the hose from it.
The sink has also gone unused for a good while not to mention the toilet.
I am still in the property but plan to rent it out.
I can clean the hose and head of course and start to use the shower.

If I pay the 108+vat my agent T's and C's mention is this just to tell me what I might fear. Is it better not to just fix a risk and then say no more if there was any Legionnaires.

Thank you.

You're required to assess the risk of Legionnaire's disease but not obliged to pay a "professional" to do so. As long as you run plenty of water through the upstairs facilities and give them a good clean, that should be sufficient, although a new hose and head wouldn't cost much if you were so inclined.

Thanks Simon, I am going to start to use the shower myself and use some descaler in the hose and shower head. It's probably going to be a couple of weeks of use before any prospective tenants would move in.

Legionnaire Risk Assessment should be completed by a 'competent' person.

There is an online course available (i think it still is anyway, I done it over 2 years ago) for around £20.

Takes approx. 1 hour and goes into Legionnaires Risk Assessing. By completing this you will be saving money compared to the agents costs, improve your knowledge on Legionaries and also, prove yourself as competent.

Legionnaires is usually only a risk when contaminated water is aspirated and you breath it in so a shower is the risk.  As cambridge SEO states flow plenty of water through the shower system, at least 10 minutes.  keep the sink taps flowing and keep flushing the toilet.  Ensure that the water tank empties and refills every 24 hours with fresh water as chlorine will evaporate from the water within this time period and increase the risk of bacterial build up.