For Essential Information for Landlords, click HERE.
It is against the law for a Landlord with a rented property not to have a Legionella Risk Assessment carried out. There are penalties such as fines and possible criminal offences that can be imposed on you as a result.
Tenants could also sue for damages against you in the event of a tenant or a member of their family becoming ill or diagnosed with legionnaires disease itself (see Devon news article)
There are several law firms acting for clients in this area and this area of activity is growing rapidly so there needs to be more vigilance for landlords.
If a landlord decides to undertake the code of practice themselves without any assistance then the Landlord needs to accept full responsibility for their actions. This means
- The tenant can still pursue you in the event of you not managing the code of practice properly
- The tenant and or their family can take you to task which will be costly to you for missing a small part of the code of practice ( a court of law will have to act as per what has been asked of you This means that under the HSE code of practice there are many areas that can be challenged by a tenant)
What does the code of practice mean?
HSE are a body that provide information on legal duties that are aimed at controlling the health and safety of people.
Their effort is to reduce the number of fatalities and or illnesses derived from lack of safety measures and they provide people with information that is aimed at underpinning the law itself around such measures.
HSE is not there to help you carry out those measures. In the likelihood of an issue being raised you may well find yourself being visited by an HSE Inspector that have the power to litigate and prosecute offenders through a found negligence in their duties.
In addition to this a tenant can also pursue you and this can mean incredibly difficult times for you.
Do You Want To Take That Risk?
