Awaab's Law requires social housing landlords in England to investigate and fix dangerous property conditions within strict legal time limits. It came into force on 27 October 2025, three years after the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in his family's social housing flat in Rochdale. His family had reported mould in the property repeatedly. The landlord did not act. A coroner ruled that Awaab died of a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to the mould. The law introduced legally enforceable deadlines for hazard response, where previously no fixed statutory timescale existed.

The law works by implying new obligations directly into every social tenancy agreement. Tenants now have a contractual right to enforce repair deadlines rather than rely on their landlord's goodwill or discretion.

It sits within the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and is formally known as the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025. Missing a deadline is not a procedural oversight. It is a breach of contract, enforceable in court.

Who Awaab's Law applies to

The law applies to registered providers of social housing in England, including local authorities and housing associations. It covers secure and assured tenancies, along with temporary and supported accommodation let as social housing, where the property is occupied under a tenancy agreement. It does not apply to shared ownership, long leasehold or other owner-occupied accommodation, or any social housing occupied under a licence rather than a tenancy.

Scotland operates under its own housing legislation. Awaab's Law does not apply there. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 does include provisions to extend Awaab's Law to private rented housing in England, though no date has been confirmed for that extension.

Understanding who is in scope matters if you are delivering repairs on behalf of a social landlord. Even if you are a contractor rather than the landlord itself, the landlord remains legally responsible for every deadline your team must meet.

What hazards are covered

Phase 1 of the law covers two categories: emergency hazards and significant damp and mould. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is the assessment framework used to determine how serious a hazard is and which category it falls into.

Emergency hazards

An emergency hazard is any condition that poses an imminent and significant risk of harm to the tenant. Examples include dangerous electrics, major water ingress, total loss of heating in winter, and a window that won't close properly, putting a child at risk of falling or leaving a home dangerously cold.

Significant damp and mould hazards

A significant damp and mould hazard presents a serious risk to health if left unresolved. This includes persistent damp, visible mould, and condensation linked to poor ventilation in social housing. Tenant vulnerability, such as respiratory conditions or young children in the home, must be factored into the severity assessment.

Awaab's Law timescales for repairs

The timescales below reflect the Phase 2 guidance published 31 July 2026, coming into force from 30 November 2026. The core investigation and response deadlines carry over from Phase 1, which remains in effect until then.

If the property cannot be made safe within the required window, you must arrange and fund alternative accommodation for the tenant. Safety works can include temporary measures to reduce risk while a full repair is planned, but the clock does not stop running.

How hazard investigations must be carried out

Every hazard report triggers a formal investigation process, regardless of how straightforward the report looks. For emergency hazards, you must attend, assess, and begin making the property safe within 24 hours of becoming aware of the problem.

For damp and mould, the investigation window is 10 working days, but the scope of that investigation matters. You need to identify the root cause, not just the visible symptom. That means assessing ventilation, structural condition, and any factors affecting tenant vulnerability.

Key points to understand about the investigation process:

• Root cause first: surface mould treatment without root cause analysis will not satisfy the law
• Access difficulties: the guidance sets out what steps count as "reasonable endeavours" to gain access if a tenant does not respond
• Ongoing communication: tenants must be kept informed throughout, including advice on how to stay safe while works are arranged

Awaab's Law phased rollout

The law is being introduced across three phases. Each phase extends the same statutory timescale framework to a wider range of hazards.

Phase 1 from October 2025

Phase 1 has been in force since 27 October 2025 and covers emergency hazards and significant damp and mould.

Phase 2 from November 2026

From 30 November 2026, the law extends to a wider range of HHSRS hazards where they present a significant risk of harm. These include excess cold and heat, falls, structural collapse, fire and explosions, electrical hazards, and domestic hygiene, covering personal hygiene, sanitation, and food safety.

Phase 3 from 2027

Phase 3 is expected in 2027 and will extend the same obligations to all remaining HHSRS hazard categories, with the sole exception of overcrowding. Once Phase 3 is in force, virtually every serious property hazard in social housing will carry an enforceable response timescale.

What happens if a landlord misses a deadline

Tenants have three routes available to them when a deadline is missed:

• Court action: because the obligations are implied into the tenancy agreement, tenants can bring a breach-of-contract claim and seek an order for repairs, compensation, and damages
• Housing Ombudsman: complaints can be escalated through the landlord's internal process and then to the Housing Ombudsman Service, which can order compensation and remedial action
• Regulator of Social Housing: the regulator can investigate systemic failures across a provider's portfolio and take formal enforcement action

A landlord may have a defence if they took all reasonable steps to comply but were genuinely prevented by circumstances beyond their control. That defence is narrow. Poor planning, contractor delays, and repair backlogs are unlikely to qualify.

What you need to prepare now

Most compliance failures under Awaab's Law will be operational, not intentional. If your processes are not built around the statutory timescales before a hazard is reported, you will struggle to meet them when it counts.

With Phase 2 coming into force on 30 November 2026, the preparation window is short. Here are the steps that will make the biggest difference:

• Benchmark your current response times: an Operations Director should measure existing investigation and repair timescales against the legal deadlines for each hazard type
• Build a clear audit trail: this typically falls to the Contract Manager, who needs every investigation finding, decision, and repair instruction time-stamped and traceable. This applies equally to ad-hoc reactive jobs and planned maintenance visits scheduled under a contract
• Confirm contractor readiness: if you work with subcontractors, centralising your contracts helps the Contract Manager verify they can meet response windows, return consistent evidence on time, and provide documentation of completion. Informal communication by phone or message is not enough when a legal deadline is at stake
• Train frontline engineers: the Service Delivery Manager needs to make sure engineers know how to correctly triage a hazard at the point of reporting, not retrospectively
• Set up written communication processes: you need a reliable way to get investigation summaries to tenants within three working days, every time

Landlords that have not reviewed their operations ahead of Phase 2 face a genuine compliance risk from the day the new hazard categories come into scope.

How Joblogic helps repairs teams stay compliant

Joblogic treats meeting Awaab's Law timescales as an operational challenge as much as a legal one. Every job needs to be logged the moment it's reported, tracked in real time, and closed with a complete, time-stamped evidence record.

Joblogic's Job Management and Job Tracking tools are built around this kind of deadline-driven, compliance-heavy repairs work. Whether you're managing ad-hoc callouts or planned maintenance contracts, you can track every job from first report through to completion, with time-stamped updates that map directly to the statutory timescales. Using Mobile Forms, engineers capture findings, photos, and compliance checklists on site, so evidence is attached to the job record as the work happens, not chased after the visit. Where subcontractors are involved, the Subcontractor Portal gives Contract Managers a central place to manage scopes, verify evidence, and link completed work to billing and compliance records.

If you want to see how Joblogic supports Awaab's Law compliance in practice, book a demo and speak with one of our specialists who will walk you through the platform.

Frequently asked questions

Does Awaab's Law apply to private landlords in England?

Awaab's Law does not currently apply to private landlords. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 includes provisions to extend the same requirements to the private rented sector, but no implementation date has been confirmed.

Does Awaab's Law apply in Scotland?

Awaab's Law is specific to England and does not apply in Scotland. Scotland has its own separate housing legislation and regulatory framework governing hazards and repairs.

What is the difference between safety works and supplementary works?

Safety works are the immediate steps taken to reduce or remove the risk of harm, which may include temporary measures. Supplementary works are the longer-term repairs that prevent the hazard from returning, and these must begin within five working days of the investigation concluding, or within 12 weeks at the latest if that isn't achievable.

Can a contractor delay be used as a defence under Awaab's Law?

A contractor delay is not a valid defence on its own. The landlord remains legally responsible for meeting the statutory timescales regardless of who is delivering the repair.

What must a written investigation summary include?

The summary must explain what the investigation found and what action the landlord intends to take, including when that action will happen. It must be sent to the tenant within three working days of the investigation completing.