Is a free legionella risk assessment template enough?

Only if the person filling it in already knows what to look at and what the readings mean. HSE says landlords can do the assessment themselves if they are competent. A template gives you the headings, not the knowledge.

Do I have to pay for a legionella test as well?

No. HSE says testing is not usually required for domestic hot and cold water systems, and there is no legionella certificate in law. The assessment is what the law asks for.

What does the DwellFlow price include?

The assessment, a sheet for your tenant, the written scheme of control and a schematic of the water system, all produced when you press submit. Corrections and re-issue for fourteen days, and a reminder before each recommendation falls due. The only thing to buy is a digital thermometer with a probe.

Does it cost more for a large house or an HMO?

No. One price per property, whatever the water system. A house with a tank and a cylinder takes longer to survey than a combi flat, but it costs the same.

How often do I have to pay?

Once per property per assessment. There is no fixed legal interval for reviewing a domestic property. Review it when the water system, its use or the occupants change; a review is a new assessment at the same price.

For landlords

How much does a legionella risk assessment cost for a landlord?

A firm that sends someone out charges £75 to £150 a property. Doing it yourself with DwellFlow costs £20 including VAT, less each for more than one property, and takes thirty minutes to an hour. A template costs almost nothing and leaves the hard part with you.

What the money buys

Three ways to get one, and what each costs.

A visit, £75 to £150. Someone comes to the property, takes the readings and writes it up. At the cheap end that is often fifteen minutes and a photocopied sheet with ticks on it; at the dear end, a report. Ask to see one before you book.
A template, free to about £10. A form with the right headings. It cannot tell you whether the cylinder is hot enough, what a tank with no lid means, or what to write about the en-suite nobody uses. HSE says landlords can do the assessment themselves if they are competent; the form does not make them so. Fine if you already know the subject.
DwellFlow, £20 including VAT. Your phone asks the questions at the property, you take the readings and the photographs, and the AI does the write-up. The assessment, a sheet for your tenant and the written scheme of control are produced when you press submit. Thirty minutes to an hour.

Why a visit costs what it does

You are paying for the drive, not the assessment.

For most homes the assessment itself is short. HSE says “a simple assessment may show there are no real risks and these are being properly managed so no further action is needed.” What a firm charges covers the travel, the diary slot, the office that books it and the write-up afterwards. None of that makes the assessment better: a thermometer reads the same whoever holds it.

What does make it better is what gets recorded. A temperature at every outlet, a photograph beside each finding, the guidance clause behind each recommendation and a written scheme of control. Ask for those whoever you pay, and put what you are handed beside a complete assessment before you decide it was worth the money.

What £20 includes

Everything, once.

The assessment: every reading at its outlet, a photograph beside each finding, the clause behind each recommendation and a date for it.
A sheet for your tenant, and the written scheme of control that ACoP L8 asks for alongside the assessment.
A schematic of the water system, drawn by AI from your survey. Commercial assessments costing hundreds of pounds include one; domestic ones almost never do.
Corrections. The AI checks the survey before you submit. For fourteen days after you start, reopen it, change it and re-issue at no extra cost.
Reminders. Each recommendation carries a date, and you are emailed before it falls due.
The one thing to buy: a digital thermometer with a probe, about £20 from any DIY shop. Not an infrared one.

More than one property

Less each, from the second property.

£20 for one property; £16.80 each for 2 to 9 properties, £14.40 each for 10 to 24, and £12 each at 25 or more.

Ten properties cost £144 with DwellFlow. Ten visits at £75 to £150 each cost £750 to £1,500.

Do you have to pay at all?

The law asks for an assessment, not a receipt.

Nothing in health and safety law says a landlord must buy anything or use a firm. It asks that the risk of exposure of tenants to legionella is assessed by someone competent, that anything found is dealt with, and that a record is kept. HSE’s page on legionella and landlords’ responsibilities also says two things people are often sold: a laboratory test “is not usually required for domestic hot and cold water systems”, and health and safety law “does not require landlords to obtain or produce a ‘legionella test certificate’.” Money spent on either is money spent on the wrong thing.

Questions landlords ask

Short answers.

How much does a legionella risk assessment cost for a landlord? A firm that visits charges roughly £75 to £150 a property. Doing it yourself with DwellFlow costs £20 including VAT, less each for more than one property, and takes thirty minutes to an hour.
Is a free legionella risk assessment template enough? Only if the person filling it in already knows what to look at and what the readings mean. HSE says landlords can do the assessment themselves if they are competent. A template gives you the headings, not the knowledge.
Do I have to pay for a legionella test as well? No. HSE says testing is not usually required for domestic hot and cold water systems, and there is no legionella certificate in law. The assessment is what the law asks for.
What does the DwellFlow price include? The assessment, a sheet for your tenant, the written scheme of control and a schematic of the water system, all produced when you press submit. Corrections and re-issue for fourteen days, and a reminder before each recommendation falls due. The only thing to buy is a digital thermometer with a probe.
Does it cost more for a large house or an HMO? No. One price per property, whatever the water system. A house with a tank and a cylinder takes longer to survey than a combi flat, but it costs the same.
How often do I have to pay? Once per property per assessment. There is no fixed legal interval for reviewing a domestic property. Review it when the water system, its use or the occupants change; a review is a new assessment at the same price.