Awaab's Law: what social landlords must do, and by when

Awaab's Law is the common name for a legal duty on social landlords to investigate and fix certain hazards in a tenant's home within set timescales. The duty was created by Section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, which inserted a new section into the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. The actual timescales are set out in secondary legislation, the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1042), in force from 27 October 2025.

It is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy who died in 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his family's social housing flat in Rochdale. The Housing Ombudsman's Spotlight report on damp and mould, published in October 2021, found that landlords routinely blamed tenants for mould instead of investigating it, painted over mould without treating the cause, and failed to keep tenants informed. Awaab's Law is the legal response to that pattern.

Awaab's Law applies to registered providers of social housing: councils and housing associations that are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing, in respect of their social rented tenancies. A "registered provider" is simply the legal term for a landlord that is on the Regulator of Social Housing's register and subject to its rules.

It does not apply to private landlords, letting agents, managing agents acting for a private landlord, or to any contractor, of any trade, that a landlord instructs. A survey, drying or treatment firm sits entirely outside the duty. It is the landlord's clock, not the contractor's.

A significant hazard is one that poses "a significant risk of harm to the health or safety of an occupier of the social home." Government guidance defines that risk as one "that a reasonable lessor with the relevant knowledge would take steps to make safe as a matter of urgency."

This test is about the person, not just the property. Guidance is explicit that a tenant does not need a diagnosed medical condition for a hazard to count as significant: the landlord must consider the actual household, including age and any health conditions, when it decides whether damp or mould in that specific home is a significant hazard. Two flats with the same reading on a moisture meter can sit on different sides of that line, depending on who lives there.

An emergency hazard is one that poses "an imminent and significant risk of harm": a risk "that a reasonable lessor with the relevant knowledge would take steps to make safe within 24 hours." Government guidance gives examples including gas leaks, a broken boiler with no heating or hot water, exposed wiring, and mould that is severe enough to be materially affecting a resident's health right now. Most damp and mould cases are handled on the significant-hazard timescale below, not the emergency one, unless the situation has reached that point.

The clock starts the moment the landlord becomes aware of the hazard, by any route: a tenant's report, a routine inspection, a contractor or surveyor flagging it during an unrelated visit, or a third party telling the landlord, such as the Housing Ombudsman, a GP or a councillor. The day the landlord becomes aware counts as day zero; the count of working days begins the next day.

This matters for a landlord's own processes: a hazard a contractor happens to notice and mentions in a report starts the same clock as a tenant phoning it in. Whoever answers that call, email or report needs to log the date immediately, because that date is what every later deadline is measured against.

These are the Phase 1 timescales, covering emergency hazards and damp and mould where it is a significant hazard. The 24-hour periods run in hours, so effectively calendar time. Every other period is stated in working days, meaning weekends and bank holidays do not count.

"Safety works" make the hazard safe in the short term. "Supplementary works" are the permanent fix that stops the same hazard coming back, for example replacing a failed extractor fan or curing a penetrating damp source rather than just re-treating the mould it caused.

Government guidance sets out that the written summary, due within 3 working days of the investigation concluding, must state:

• Whether the investigation found a significant or emergency hazard, and what that hazard is.
• What action is required, if any, and the target timeframe for starting and finishing it.
• If no action is required, a clear statement of that and the reasons why.
• Contact details for the landlord.

A survey report with findings, photographs and moisture readings, delivered in time, gives the landlord's team what it needs to write this summary correctly and on time. It is not the summary itself; the summary is the landlord's document to the resident.

Where the landlord cannot complete the required safety work in time and the home is not reasonably safe to live in, it must arrange suitable alternative accommodation at its own expense until the work is finished. "Suitable" takes into account the household's needs: space, location, accessibility, whether the new accommodation is itself free of hazards, and provision for pets. The duty covers anyone who normally lives in the property as part of the tenant's family, and a tenant can decline the offer and stay put in writing.

Guidance is direct on this: landlords must keep accurate, up-to-date records about their residents and homes, and clear records of every investigation, communication and piece of correspondence with the tenant and with any contractor, as proof that Awaab's Law requirements were met. Government guidance specifically flags taking photographs or samples before a hazard, such as mould, is removed, since evidence of a treated hazard is far weaker than evidence of the hazard itself.

In practice, that means a dated record at every stage: when the report came in, when the property was attended, what was found, when the written summary went out and what it said, when safety works started, and when supplementary works finished, backed by photographs and moisture readings throughout. That combined record is the evidence pack a compliance team, a board, or the Housing Ombudsman would expect to see if a case is ever queried.

HHSRS, the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, is the 21-hazard method under the Housing Act 2004 that government uses to assess health and safety risks in a home. Awaab's Law's hazard categories are drawn from it.

Not yet, and there is no confirmed government date for it to start. The Renters' Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, gives government the power to extend Awaab's Law-style duties to the private rented sector by later regulations, and separately applies the Decent Homes Standard to private rented homes, with council enforcement from 2035. Housing law commentary has suggested a private rented sector version of Awaab's Law "around 2027," but that is industry estimate, not a confirmed government date. Treat any specific year for private landlords as unverified until gov.uk publishes one.

No. There is no certification, badge or accredited scheme called "Awaab's Law compliant" that a business can hold. The legal duty sits on the registered social landlord, not on any surveyor, drying firm or treatment contractor it instructs. A contractor that describes itself as "Awaab's Law compliant" is claiming a status that does not exist for it to have.

What a contractor can honestly claim is that its own response times are built to fit inside a landlord's Awaab's Law clock, so its part of the job does not become the reason the landlord misses a statutory deadline. That is the claim this page and D&M make; it is a claim about turnaround and evidence, not about legal compliance.

This is the practical sequence a landlord follows under Awaab's Law for a damp and mould case, with the clock, who acts, and what proves each step happened.

D&M is a contractor: it carries out damp and mould surveys, structural drying and mould treatment. It is not a social landlord, so the Awaab's Law duty does not sit on D&M directly, and D&M does not claim otherwise. What D&M can promise is that its own part of the process, the survey, the report and the start of drying or treatment, is built to fit inside the timescales above, so it does not become the reason a landlord misses its own deadline.

Every job produces a dated record: attendance date, findings, photographs and moisture readings, and works-start date, in a form a landlord's compliance team can file or pass on. Damp proofing, where a survey shows it is genuinely needed, is arranged through a trusted specialist partner after diagnosis, not sold on the day of survey.

These are standard turnaround targets, not a promise of unlimited capacity. Any landlord relationship bringing regular instructions should confirm current availability directly, particularly where several properties may need attention at once.