18/06/2025
From October 2025, providers of social housing must ensure that damp and mould that is hazardous to health is investigated and fixed within strict timescales and that all emergency repairs are dealt with within 24 hours.
Known as Awaab’s law and introduced as part of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, it follows the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak whose death was attributed to prolonged exposure to damp and mould in his family home. It effectively inserts into social housing tenancy agreements an additional term that will require landlords to comply with these new requirements and giving tenants rights to compensation if they don’t.
Awaab’s law is not however limited to damp and mould. From 2026, landlords will be legally required to fix a larger number of dangerous hazards and then, from 2027, all dangerous hazards listed in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) Regulations 2025 (HHSRS) will be included. Despite this phased approach, the Government is encouraging landlords to extend the requirements to all hazards sooner.
Hazards will be in scope if they pose a significant risk to the health or safety of the actual resident of the dwelling, meaning providers will need to understand exactly who lives in their properties and whether they have any specific health issues. The consultation proposed that residents will not be required to provide any medical evidence and so it will be very difficult for providers to establish or perhaps disprove whether there is a significant risk to the health and safety of the residents in a particular property.
The expected timescales that providers will be required to meet are those that were set out in the consultation. For non-emergency repairs, 14 days from the complaint for initial investigations to be made, written findings being required within 48 hours of an investigation concluding, and then repair work to begin within 7 days of this and be completed within a reasonable period.
The repairs required are however only those that are sufficient to remove the health and safety hazard – redecoration for example may not be required within these timescales.
Although the draft legislation has not yet been published, providers should start planning for compliance now – ensuring internal systems and data will be supportive, that sufficient resource is in place to respond, and that alternative temporary accommodation is available for when needed.
