For a housing provider, TMVs are rarely the biggest item on the to-do list. Gas safety, fire safety and damp tend to get the headlines. But if you've got valves in your homes, someone needs to know where they are, whether they work and when they were last checked. And in sheltered and supported schemes, where tenants may be older or more vulnerable, getting it wrong can cause real harm.
January is when a lot of housing teams are setting budgets and planned works programmes for the year ahead, so it's a good time to look at where TMVs fit in.
Where you'll find TMVs in housing stock
Most housing providers have more valves than they think, and they tend to arrive from several directions:
- New-build and refurbished homes. Building Regulations (Approved Document G) limit the temperature of water to a bath to a maximum of 48°C in new homes, and a TMV under the bath is a common way of meeting that.
- Sheltered and extra care schemes. Valves on baths, showers and often basins, because the tenants are more at risk of scalding.
- Supported housing for people with disabilities, mental health needs or other support needs.
- Adaptations. Level-access showers and assisted baths fitted for individual tenants frequently include a TMV.
- Communal areas, such as shared bathrooms, laundries and staff facilities in schemes.
The trouble is that valves fitted by different contractors over the years often never made it onto a central list. They're behind bath panels, under basins or inside boxing, and out of sight usually means out of mind.
General needs vs sheltered housing
The approach isn't the same across your whole stock, and it shouldn't be.
In general needs homes, a TMV under the bath is mostly there to meet the Building Regulations limit. It still needs to work, and it should be checked periodically, but the risk is lower than in a care setting. Many landlords bring these valves into an existing routine visit so there's no extra appointment for the tenant.
In sheltered, extra care and supported schemes, the tenants may be older, have reduced feeling or mobility, or have conditions like dementia. HSE's guidance on scalding mentions sheltered and staffed housing as places where vulnerable people may be at risk. Here, TMVs should be on a proper testing schedule with recorded results, much as they would be in a care home. TMV3 valves are often the right choice.
It's also worth remembering that the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) includes burns and scalds among the hazards it looks at. A hot water system with no temperature control in a home occupied by a vulnerable tenant is the kind of thing that could come up.
The access problem
Testing a TMV in a care home is easy by comparison. The building's yours and the staff are on site. In general needs housing, you're relying on tenants to be in and let you through the door, and every no-access visit costs time and money.
A few things help:
- Combine visits. If an engineer is already attending for an annual gas safety check or a planned works survey, adding a TMV test makes a lot of sense, provided the person doing it is competent and has the right kit.
- Batch by scheme. In sheltered blocks, testing every flat in one or two days, with a scheme manager helping with access, is far more efficient than piecemeal visits.
- Explain why. Tenants are more likely to make time for a visit when they understand it's about stopping scalding, not just another inspection.
Records: the bit that usually lets landlords down
If you were asked tomorrow how many TMVs you have, where they are and when each was last tested, could you answer? For a lot of housing providers the honest answer is "roughly". That's the gap to close.
A good TMV register for housing should be organised by property and scheme, and for each valve record:
- The address and the outlet it serves (bath, shower, basin)
- The make, model and certification (TMV2, TMV3 or both)
- The set temperature and the latest readings, including the fail-safe test
- The date of the last test and when the next one is due
- Any faults, repairs or replacements
It's also worth adding TMVs to your void process. When a property is empty between tenancies, that's the easiest possible moment to find, test and record any valves.
Our asset registers page explains how we build and maintain these, and we've written separately about how often valves should be tested.
A typical scenario
Imagine a housing association that has taken on a sheltered scheme from another provider. The handover pack mentions "TMVs fitted" but gives no list. A sensible first step would be a survey of every flat and communal bathroom: find each valve, label it, test it, and record the results. Valves that fail or turn out to be TMV2-only on outlets used by frail tenants get flagged for repair or replacement. Then the whole scheme goes onto a six-monthly testing cycle with reminders, so it doesn't drift back into the unknown.
Don't forget Legionella
Communal hot water systems in sheltered schemes need managing for Legionella under ACOP L8 and HSG274. TMVs and the pipework after them should be part of your Legionella risk assessment and written scheme, especially in flats that are empty for a while. If your Legionella contractor and your TMV contractor are different firms, make sure they're talking to each other.
How we help
We work with housing providers to survey, test, service and record TMVs across their stock, from a single sheltered scheme to homes spread across several areas. See how we work in social housing, or what's included in a TMV service.
Got a housing stock full of TMVs?
Tell us roughly how many properties and schemes are involved. We'll suggest a sensible testing plan and give you a clear quote.