Compliance (Part 5

COMPLIANCE MADE SIMPLE

As property investors and letting agents, we are regularly having conversations with people about compliance. What often comes across is that people find it changeable and confusing. It is changeable, this is true, but it needn’t be confusing. With this in mind, we have put together a series on some of the most common compliance issues, in an attempt to explain them, in a way which is succinct and non-confusing. The fifth in this series is all about Legionella

PART 5 – LEGIONELLA

What is legionella Legionnaire’s is a pneumonia-like disease, commonly caused by the inhalation of small droplets of contaminated water.

Requirements and Duties:

Landlords must assess and control the risk of exposure, for tenants, to Legionella, ensuring the safety of their tenants. Typically, this is achieved by undertaking a risk assessment of the property.

CONTROL MEASURES CAN INCLUDE:

• Flushing out the water system before letting the property out.

• Ensuring cold water tanks have a tight lid to stop any debris getting into the system. • Setting control parameters to ensure that hot water is stored at the correct temperature; hot water should be stored at 60 degrees or higher and distributed at 50 degrees. Cold water should be distributed below 20 degrees.

• Removing any unused pipework TENANTS

Tenants should be kept informed of any control measures in place and tell the landlord if problems occur with the water system, or if water is not heated properly. The hot water should be set accordingly, and tenants should be advised not to interfere with the settings on the boiler or the hot water system. On returning to the property after a period of absence (such as a holiday or student accommodation left empty) tenants should run all taps for at least 5 minutes. Where showers are installed at the property and used regularly the risks are reduced. However, tenants should be advised to regularly clean and disinfect showers.

If in doubt, have a legionella assessment completed, by an independent company. These assessments are relatively cheap and will give you peace of mind – which is priceless!

BRISTOL MUSEUM & ART GALLERY HAS RELEASED ITS AUTUMN SCHEDULE.

The brand-new season of exhibitions and events at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is centred around stories from Black and Asian communities.

Featuring three exhibitions and a series of events linked to Black History Month, the programme spotlights stories from Black and Asian communities with a particular focus on the world wars and their aftermath.

Mimesis: African Soldier by the ground-breaking contemporary artist, John Akomfrah reveals the story of the Commonwealth soldiers who volunteered to fight in World War I. Akomfrah blends archive imagery of African and Asian soldiers at work with original, newly filmed footage imagining the men as they leave their countries to fight in Europe. With a soundtrack that mixes African and Indian song with new compositions, Akomfrah paints a vivid cinematic portrait of a forgotten, or overlooked history. The film was commissioned by 14-18 NOW and shown at the Imperial War Museum to mark the centenary of World War I before being acquired by Bristol and Glasgow Museums with support from Art Fund. The exhibition is sponsored by UWE Bristol.

We Were Everywhere explores the experience of Indian and Pakistani people during the world wars and the partition of India. The exhibition combines archival material and objects from the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection, and new oral histories. The interviewees are Bristol residents sharing the stories of their family members who were caught up in the wars and the aftermath on the Indian subcontinent. They shed light on a long, complex history that continues to play out today, in South Asia and beyond.

Opening on 12 November, the third and final exhibition will be Turning Point by Sweet Patootee Arts, a series of four short films inspired by oral histories about the Black Caribbean experience after the First World War. High-profile actors and rising stars perform Caribbean melodrama and comedy to camera with a backdrop of projected archive footage and a 3D soundscape of community participant voices. The subject of colonial racism is interwoven throughout. Each film covers a different theme including: Black pride and selfesteem, sexual exploitation and human rights, gender identity and human worth, and colourism.

All exhibitions are ‘pay what you can’. Councillor Asher Craig, Cabinet Lead for Children’s Services, Education and Equalities said: “The team at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery have created a thoughtful autumn programme which places stories from African and Asian Heritage communities at the forefront. By highlighting these lost or forgotten narratives, it gives visitors the opportunity to explore narratives from different perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of these seminal points in history.” The trio of exhibitions is accompanied by a series of free events linked to Black History Month in October. Highlights include a workshop led by Professor Shawn-Naphtali Sobers from UWE Bristol exploring the role of photography in the documentation of Black cultural ideas and the book launch of Trooping the Culture – an autobiographical account of Richard Stokes who became the first Black Queens Guardsman in 1988.

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