Does a holiday let or Airbnb need a legionella risk assessment?

Yes. A holiday let is run as a business and guests occupy it under a licence, which is the accommodation HSE’s landlord guidance covers. The duty is to assess and control the risk; for most properties a simple assessment is enough.

What do I do between bookings?

Run every outlet at least once a week: hot until it runs hot, cold until it runs cold, showers with the spray kept down. Keep stored hot water at 60 °C, or drain it down for a long shutdown and flush through before the first guests. Write down who does it.

Can my cleaner or housekeeper do the flushing?

Yes, and in most holiday lets they are the right person, because they are the one in the property. The scheme of control should name them and say what to run and for how long, and the changeover checklist should carry it.

Does a hot tub count?

A hot tub is a spa pool in HSE’s terms and has its own guidance, HSG282. A domestic hot and cold water assessment does not cover it. If you have one, it needs its own regime of testing and treatment.

Do I need a legionella certificate for a booking site or my insurer?

There is no legionella certificate in law. A platform or insurer may ask for your safety records; the risk assessment and the written scheme of control are that record.

How often should a holiday let be reassessed?

There is no fixed legal interval. Review when the water system or its use changes, after a long shutdown, and periodically otherwise. Each DwellFlow assessment sets its own review date from what the property is.

For holiday-let owners

Legionella risk assessment for a holiday let.

Yes, a holiday let needs one. It is let as a business, to guests who occupy it under a licence, and it stands empty between bookings, which is the one thing legionella likes most. The assessment is short. The changeover routine is the part that matters.

Why the duty applies

A business, a licence to occupy, and other people’s lungs.

The Health and Safety at Work Act puts a duty on anyone running a business to protect people who are not their employees from risks it creates. HSE’s guidance for landlords says the duties apply to accommodation “occupied under a lease or a licence”, and a holiday booking is a licence to occupy. The same guidance says no certificate exists in law and testing is not usually required for domestic systems. What is required is a competent assessment and a record. It is on HSE’s page on legionella and landlords’ responsibilities.

What is different about a holiday let

Every booking starts with a week of standing water.

Voids. A family house has someone running the taps every day. A holiday let has gaps of days, weeks in the shoulder season, and often a winter shutdown of months. HSE: “there should be careful management of properties left vacant for extended periods”.
Showers on arrival. Guests arrive and every one of them showers, in water that has stood in the pipes since the last changeover. Legionnaires’ disease is caught by breathing in droplets, and a shower is the droplet machine.
The cylinder turned down. Owners turn the hot water down or off between guests to save money, and the cylinder sits lukewarm, which is exactly the range where the bacteria grow. Stored hot water should be at 60 °C, or drained.
Nobody lives there. The tenant who would notice the hot water failing does not exist. The person who does the changeover is the control measure.
Hot tubs. A hot tub is a spa pool in HSE’s terms, with its own guidance, HSG282, and its own regime of testing and treatment. A domestic water assessment does not cover it.

The scheme of control

Written for whoever does your changeovers.

Weekly, through any void: run every tap hot until it runs hot and cold until it runs cold, flush the toilets, run each shower with the spray kept down. Two minutes an outlet.
Before each arrival, if the gap has been more than a few days: the same flush, and the hot water checked at the tap.
Shower heads cleaned and descaled quarterly.
Stored hot water kept at 60 °C between bookings, not turned down.
Winter shutdown: either keep it hot and keep flushing weekly, or drain the system down and, before the first booking, refill, bring the hot water up to temperature and flush every outlet.
Who does it, written down. The cleaner, the housekeeper, the neighbour with the key. A date beside each flush.

Doing it

Do it at a changeover. AI does the write-up.

Your phone asks the questions at the property, including how long it has stood empty. You take the readings and the photographs; the AI checks the survey before you submit, then produces the assessment, the written scheme of control and the schematic, with the guidance clause under every recommendation. Thirty minutes to an hour, £20 a property including VAT. The scheme of control is the document to hand to whoever does your changeovers.

Questions holiday-let owners ask

Short answers.

Does a holiday let or Airbnb need a legionella risk assessment? Yes. A holiday let is run as a business and guests occupy it under a licence, which is the accommodation HSE’s landlord guidance covers. The duty is to assess and control the risk; for most properties a simple assessment is enough.
What do I do between bookings? Run every outlet at least once a week: hot until it runs hot, cold until it runs cold, showers with the spray kept down. Keep stored hot water at 60 °C, or drain it down for a long shutdown and flush through before the first guests. Write down who does it.
Can my cleaner or housekeeper do the flushing? Yes, and in most holiday lets they are the right person, because they are the one in the property. The scheme of control should name them and say what to run and for how long, and the changeover checklist should carry it.
Does a hot tub count? A hot tub is a spa pool in HSE’s terms and has its own guidance, HSG282. A domestic hot and cold water assessment does not cover it. If you have one, it needs its own regime of testing and treatment.
Do I need a legionella certificate for a booking site or my insurer? There is no legionella certificate in law. A platform or insurer may ask for your safety records; the risk assessment and the written scheme of control are that record.
How often should a holiday let be reassessed? There is no fixed legal interval. Review when the water system or its use changes, after a long shutdown, and periodically otherwise. Each DwellFlow assessment sets its own review date from what the property is.