Awaab’s Law: What It Is, Why It Matters, and What It Means for Your Rights as a Tenant

Awaab’s Law is a piece of legislation that requires social landlords in England to investigate and resolve hazardous conditions in their properties within strict legal timeframes. It came into force on 27 October 2025, and for the first time gives social housing tenants a clear, enforceable right to have damp, mould, and other serious hazards addressed within fixed deadlines, rather than being left waiting indefinitely while their health deteriorates.

The Story Behind the Law

In December 2020, two-year-old Awaab Ishak died in Rochdale after prolonged exposure to black mould in the housing association flat where his family lived. His parents had reported the damp and mould repeatedly. Their landlord, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, failed to take meaningful action. The coroner concluded that Awaab died as a result of a severe respiratory condition caused by that mould exposure.

The case prompted national outrage, not because it was unusual, but because it was not. Tenants across England were living in properties with exactly the same problems: damp, mould, unresponsive landlords, and complaints that went nowhere. Awaab’s death gave a name and a face to a failure that had been systemic and largely invisible.

His family, supported by a public campaign backed by more than 177,000 signatories, pushed for a change in the law. The government responded by introducing what became known as Awaab’s Law, provisions inserted into the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and brought into force through secondary legislation in October 2025.

What Awaab’s Law Actually Requires

Awaab’s Law is formally known as the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025. It works by inserting a new implied term into social housing tenancy agreements, meaning social landlords are contractually as well as legally bound to comply with its requirements.

Phase 1, which has been in force since 27 October 2025, covers two categories of hazard.

Significant Damp and Mould

Where a tenant reports damp or mould that presents a significant risk of harm to health or safety, the landlord must:

• Investigate the hazard within 10 working days of the report.
• Provide a written summary of findings within 3 working days of the investigation concluding.
• Carry out relevant safety work within 5 working days of that point.
• Begin or take steps to begin any supplementary preventive works within 5 working days, with full remedial works completed within 12 weeks.

One significant change introduced by the regulations is the rejection of the historic practice of attributing mould to a tenant’s lifestyle without proper investigation. The regulations and accompanying guidance reject the historic practice of attributing mould to a tenant’s “lifestyle” without proper investigation. This is a meaningful shift: landlords can no longer dismiss a mould complaint as the tenant’s own fault without conducting a proper assessment first.

Emergency Hazards

Emergency hazards must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours of the landlord becoming aware. The 24-hour deadline runs on calendar hours, not working days. Where a property cannot be made safe within that timeframe, alternative accommodation must be offered at the landlord’s expense. Nottinghillsurveyors

The 24-hour emergency duty applies to all hazards posing an imminent risk, not just damp and mould, including dangerous electrical faults, major leaks, and structural risks.

How a Report Triggers the Clock

Tenants have the right to report hazards through any reasonable channel, whether by phone, email, letter, online portal, or in person. The landlord cannot insist on a specific reporting method, and the clock starts as soon as the report is received through any channel. This prevents landlords from avoiding their obligations by claiming a report was not made in the correct format.

The Phased Expansion of Awaab’s Law

Awaab’s Law is being implemented in stages, progressively extending the range of hazards it covers.

On 13 July 2026, the Government announced that Awaab’s Law Phase 2 will come into force on 30 November 2026. Phase 2 will expand requirements to include excess cold and excess heat, falls, structural collapse and explosions, fire and electrical hazards, and domestic and personal hygiene and food safety hazards. The same investigation and repair timeframes that apply under Phase 1 will apply to Phase 2 hazards. HazardClockNational Housing Federation

The final stage, expected from October 2027, will mean social landlords have to address all other significant hazards defined under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, apart from those relating to overcrowding. EnviroVent

By 2027, Awaab’s Law will effectively require social landlords to respond within fixed timeframes to almost every serious health and safety hazard a property can present.

What This Means for Private Tenants

Awaab’s Law currently applies to social housing tenants only, meaning those renting from councils and housing associations. However, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 contains provisions to extend equivalent obligations to private landlords. Phase 3 of Awaab’s Law is due to start in October 2026 and will mean that around 4.6 million privately rented homes will be subject to the same repair obligations as social housing. Private tenants should watch this development closely, as the extension of these obligations to the private sector would represent one of the most significant expansions of tenant rights in a generation. iHasco

Why This Law Matters Beyond the Timeframes

The specific deadlines in Awaab’s Law are important, but the broader significance goes further than any individual figure.

Before this legislation, a social tenant living with damp, mould, or a structural hazard had legal rights under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the pre-existing implied fitness for habitation obligations, but enforcing those rights required bringing a civil claim and proving the landlord’s breach case by case. The process was slow, uncertain, and often beyond what a tenant with no legal experience could manage alone.

Awaab’s Law changes the nature of the obligation itself. By setting statutory timeframes and inserting compliance as an implied term of the tenancy, it gives tenants a much clearer basis for holding their landlord to account, and a clearer standard against which a landlord’s failure can be measured. Where a landlord does not meet the required deadlines, that failure is not a matter of interpretation. It is a documented breach of a specific legal requirement.

For housing disrepair claims, this has a practical effect. A landlord who fails to investigate a reported damp and mould hazard within 10 working days, or who does not carry out safety work within the required timeframe, has failed to comply with a statutory obligation. That failure can form part of the evidence in a civil disrepair claim, and it removes the argument that the landlord simply needed more time.

What Awaab’s Law Does Not Do

Awaab’s Law does not replace the existing legal framework for housing disrepair claims. Tenants who have suffered loss, injury, or prolonged distress as a result of their landlord’s failure to act still need to pursue compensation through a civil claim. Awaab’s Law sets the standard landlords must meet and creates a contractual mechanism for enforcement, but it does not itself award compensation or carry criminal sanctions for non-compliance in the way health and safety legislation in other contexts does.

The existing legal routes remain relevant and, in many cases, necessary. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 continues to govern repairing obligations, Section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 provides the basis for personal injury claims where disrepair has caused illness or injury, and the Housing Conditions Pre-Action Protocol remains the framework through which most civil disrepair claims are progressed. Awaab’s Law strengthens the position of tenants within that framework, but it does not replace it.

What To Do If Your Landlord Is Not Complying

If you are a social housing tenant and your landlord has not responded to a report of damp, mould, or another hazard within the timeframes required by Awaab’s Law, you have several options available:

1. Report the hazard in writing, through any channel, and keep a dated record of when and how you reported it. This is when the clock starts.
2. Chase for the written investigation summary if you do not receive it within 3 working days of the investigation concluding.
3. Make a formal complaint through your landlord’s internal complaints process if the required action is not taken within the statutory timeframes.
4. Refer to the Housing Ombudsman if the internal complaints process does not resolve the matter.
5. Speak to a specialist housing disrepair solicitor if the disrepair has caused you loss, damaged your belongings, or affected your health. A civil claim may be appropriate alongside or instead of the Ombudsman route, particularly where personal injury is involved.

You can find out more about how disrepair claims work on our housing disrepair claims page, and our housing repair breach claims guide explains the specific circumstances in which a landlord’s failure gives rise to a legal claim.

Speak to Satchell Moran Solicitors

If your social landlord has failed to act on a reported hazard, whether within the timeframes required by Awaab’s Law or over a longer period, Satchell Moran Solicitors can assess whether you have grounds for a housing disrepair claim. We act for council and housing association tenants across England and Wales on a no win, no fee basis, with dual Lexcel accreditation and specialist experience in housing disrepair cases involving health impacts and landlord failures. Get in touch today for an initial enquiry at no cost and no obligation.