No. HSE says health and safety law “does not require landlords to obtain or produce a ‘legionella test certificate’”. What a landlord needs is a legionella risk assessment, a record of it, and the simple routine that keeps the risk low.
A gas safety check produces a gas safety record, and an electrical inspection produces an electrical installation condition report, the EICR. Landlords file both, and most people call them certificates, so it is natural to expect a legionella one to sit beside them.
Health and safety law asks for something different: that the landlord assesses the risk from legionella and keeps it under control. There is no fixed test, no pass mark and no document with an expiry date. The line is on HSE’s page on legionella and landlords’ responsibilities.
HSE says landlords are not necessarily required to record the findings, but “you may find it wise to keep a record of what has been done for your own purposes”. That record is what you show when somebody asks for a certificate.
Some firms sell a “legionella certificate”. Behind it is one of two things. If it is a risk assessment, the assessment is what counts, and it should show readings, findings and actions for your property, not ticks on a form that could describe any house. If it is a laboratory test of a water sample, HSE says testing “is not usually required for domestic hot and cold water systems, and is only needed in very specific circumstances”.
An expiry date printed on a certificate is the seller’s, not the law’s. HSE: “The law does not prescribe that the risk assessment be reviewed on an annual or biennial basis.” It is reviewed periodically, and whenever something changes. How often to review it.
A complete assessment of a fictional rented house, produced by the same software every customer uses. Free, no account.
Related: Do I need a legionella test? · Legionella checks for landlords · What is a legionella risk assessment?
£9.99 ex VAT a property. Thirty minutes to an hour at the property, depending on the size and type of the water system, and the AI writes the documents.