Rent Smart Wales makes the landlord duty unusually plain. Its Legionella guide says landlords and agents must assess and mitigate the risk from exposure to Legionella, and that, at minimum, a Legionella risk assessment should be completed for each property [1].

That phrase “each property” matters. A Welsh landlord with ten similar flats should not rely on one generic note that says “all properties low risk”. The assessment can be proportionate and short, but it should identify the actual water risks in the actual home being let.

What Rent Smart Wales expects

The Rent Smart Wales guide links the duty to the Code of Practice for licensed landlords and agents under Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. The code requires rented properties to be kept in a safe condition and with no unacceptable risk to the health of tenants [1]. For Legionella, the guide says landlords and agents need to be aware of the danger, assess and mitigate exposure risk, and keep records of control measures [1].

HSE’s wider landlord guidance still sits underneath that. There is no special “Legionella certificate” requirement for an ordinary rented home, and many domestic systems are low risk once assessed [2]. Wales does not turn a simple flat into a complex industrial water system. It does make the per-property assessment expectation hard to miss.

The Welsh landlord checklist

For each property, keep a compact record covering:

  • Water source: mains or private supply.
  • Hot-water system: combi boiler, cylinder, calorifier or other arrangement.
  • Cold-water storage: tank present or direct mains only; tank condition if present.
  • Aerosol outlets: showers, spray taps, hose connections or other outlets that create droplets.
  • Little-used outlets: spare bathrooms, outside taps, utility sinks and any room that sits unused.
  • Void-period control: flushing before letting and after periods of non-use.
  • Debris and redundant pipework: tank lids, visible sediment, removed appliances and capped spurs.
  • Tenant advice: showerhead cleaning, reporting hot-water problems and what to do after absence.
  • Review evidence: date assessed, date reviewed, changes found and actions closed.

Rent Smart Wales gives examples of simple controls, including flushing before letting, avoiding debris entering the system, controlling stored hot-water temperature, removing redundant pipework and advising tenants to clean and disinfect showerheads [1]. Those actions should not sit as generic advice in a handbook; they should appear as property-specific controls where they apply.

Agent and landlord responsibilities

Using an agent helps only if the task is allocated clearly. The landlord still needs to know who assesses the property, who updates the record, who gives tenant advice and who checks void-period flushing. If the agent completes the work, the landlord should be able to see the assessment and the control log rather than just assume the agency has a file somewhere.

This is especially important for student lets, holiday-style occupation patterns and properties that sit empty between tenancies. Rent Smart Wales flags that Legionella risk may increase where a property is unoccupied for a period of time [1]. A property that is low risk while occupied can become a flushing problem over a long void.

What Wales does not change

The Welsh guide does not mean every landlord needs routine Legionella sampling. HSE’s position remains that the control duty is risk-assessment-led, and testing is only useful where the assessment identifies a reason [2][3]. It also does not turn the assessment into a fixed annual certificate. The record should be reviewed regularly and when something changes, such as new plumbing, a long void, tenant vulnerability, poor temperature control or remedial work.

FAQ

Does a Welsh landlord need one Legionella assessment per property?

Yes, that is the safe reading of the Rent Smart Wales guide. It says, at minimum, a Legionella risk assessment should be completed for each property [1]. Similar properties can use the same method, but the record should still be property-specific.

Do Welsh landlords need a certificate?

The useful evidence is the risk assessment and the record of controls, not a decorative certificate. A contractor may issue a report, but the landlord should check that it actually identifies risks, actions, review triggers and tenant advice for that property.

How often should the Welsh assessment be reviewed?

Rent Smart Wales says risk assessments must be regularly reviewed [1]. The exact interval should be set by the assessment, and earlier review is needed after changes to the system, occupancy, void periods or monitoring results. Do not borrow Scotland’s two-year maximum and present it as Welsh law.

Next step

Pick one Welsh rental property and check whether the file proves three things: the assessment is for that property, the void-flush and tenant-advice controls are recorded, and any actions have been closed. If the file only contains a generic portfolio note, rewrite it around the property. For the wider UK landlord context, see Landlord responsibilities for Legionella in rental properties.

Sources

  1. Rent Smart Wales, “Legionnaires’ Disease (legionella) Guide for Landlords and Agents”. https://rentsmart.gov.wales/Uploads/Downloads/00/00/01/72/DownloadFileEN_FILE/legionella-guide-for-agents-landlords.pdf
  2. HSE, “Legionella and landlords’ responsibilities”. https://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/legionella-landlords-responsibilities.htm
  3. HSE, “Testing and monitoring your water system for legionella”. https://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/testing-monitoring-water-system.htm