Awaab’s Law is a set of legal requirements in England that make social landlords investigate and fix dangerous hazards, starting with damp and mould, within fixed deadlines. It came into force for council and housing association homes on 27 October 2025, more hazards are being added in phases, and the government has powers to extend it to private renting. This guide sets out what the law requires, what tenants and landlords should do, and why finding the real cause of the damp matters so much.
Who was Awaab Ishak?
Awaab Ishak was a two-year-old boy who died in December 2020. He lived with his family in a housing association flat in Rochdale. In November 2022 the coroner concluded that he died from a severe respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home. His family had raised the mould with their landlord, and the landlord blamed the family for it instead of dealing with the cause.
The law carries his name because his family campaigned for it. It’s worth remembering that context. The whole point of Awaab’s Law is that complaints about damp and mould have to be taken seriously, investigated properly and fixed, not explained away.
What is Awaab’s Law, legally?
There isn’t a single “Awaab’s Law Act”. It works in two layers:
- The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, section 42, inserted new sections into the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (sections 10A and 10B). Section 10A implies a term into social housing tenancies that the landlord will comply with whatever requirements are set out in regulations.
- The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025 set out those requirements: what counts as a hazard, and how quickly landlords must investigate it and make it safe.
Because the duty is implied into the tenancy itself, a tenant whose landlord doesn’t comply can take action for breach of the tenancy agreement. The legislation gives landlords a defence where they have taken all reasonable steps to comply but couldn’t for reasons beyond their control.
Who does Awaab’s Law cover?
At the moment, Awaab’s Law applies to social housing in England: homes let by local authorities and housing associations (registered providers of social housing). It does not yet apply to private landlords, and the detailed rules include some exclusions, so if you’re unsure whether your tenancy is covered, check the government’s tenant guidance or ask your landlord.
It is England-only. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own housing standards regimes.
What are the Awaab’s Law timescales?
The government’s guidance for social landlords sets out the deadlines for the first phase. In plain terms:
| Situation | What the landlord must do | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency hazard (including emergency damp and mould) | Investigate and make safe | Within 24 hours of becoming aware |
| Significant damp and mould hazard | Investigate | Within 10 working days of becoming aware |
| After the investigation | Give the tenant a written summary of findings and next steps | Within 3 working days of the investigation concluding |
| Significant hazard confirmed | Carry out work to make it safe | Within 5 working days of the investigation concluding |
| Further work needed to stop it coming back | Start the work, or take steps to schedule it | Within 5 working days, with work starting within 12 weeks at the latest |
“Make safe” isn’t the same as “fully repaired”. Making safe might mean treating the mould, stopping an active leak, or moving the household somewhere suitable. The longer-term repair that stops the damp returning is a separate step, and that’s where getting the diagnosis right matters most.
If the home can’t be made safe in time, the landlord must offer the household suitable alternative accommodation, at the landlord’s cost, until it can.
Phase 1, Phase 2 and what comes next
Awaab’s Law is being brought in in stages:
- Phase 1, from 27 October 2025: all emergency hazards, plus damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm.
- Phase 2, from 30 November 2026: the significant-hazard deadlines extend to further hazards, including excess cold and heat, falls on the level, structural collapse, fire, electrical hazards and domestic hygiene.
- Phase 3, planned for 2027: the remaining hazards from the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), the government’s risk-based method for assessing hazards in homes, except overcrowding.
Does Awaab’s Law apply to private landlords?
Not yet. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 gives the government powers to apply Awaab’s Law to private rented homes, with requirements to be set out in later regulations. The government has said it will consult on the detail, including timescales, and the implementation date had not been confirmed at the time of writing.
That doesn’t mean private landlords have no duties now. Private rented homes are already assessed under the HHSRS, where “damp and mould growth” is one of the listed hazards, and councils can take enforcement action where a serious hazard is found. Landlords also have repairing obligations under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Our guide to damp and mould surveys for landlords covers the private-sector picture in more depth.
What should tenants do about damp and mould?
If you rent and you’re dealing with damp or mould:
- Report it in writing, to your landlord’s repairs line or online portal, and keep a copy. Even if you’re not sure it counts as a hazard, report it.
- Take dated photographs, close-up and wide, and keep a simple diary of when it appears and gets worse.
- Tell the landlord about anyone vulnerable in the home: babies and young children, older people, anyone pregnant, and anyone with asthma, other breathing conditions or a weakened immune system. Health circumstances are taken into account when the landlord assesses the risk.
- Ask for the written summary after the investigation, and check it says what the cause is and what will be done about it.
- Keep up with sensible day-to-day habits: ventilate when cooking and showering, and use extractor fans where they’re fitted. The guidance is clear, though, that everyday living such as cooking, bathing and drying clothes is not something tenants should be blamed for.
For cleaning mould safely in the meantime, see how to get rid of black mould.
What should landlords do?
The government’s damp and mould guidance for rented housing providers is explicit: damp and mould should not be dismissed as a result of tenants’ “lifestyle”, and it is the landlord’s responsibility to identify the underlying cause and put in place a long-term solution.
In practice, that means:
- Triage quickly. Have a process to decide, the day a report arrives, whether this could be an emergency or a significant hazard.
- Investigate the cause, not just the symptom. Mould is the visible end of a moisture problem. A repeat mould wash is not an investigation.
- Record everything: when the report came in, who inspected, what they found, and when work was done.
- Fix the building first. Leaking gutters, failed pointing, defective window seals, plumbing leaks, missing insulation, poor extraction and bridged damp proof courses are all building defects, not lifestyle issues.
- Follow up to confirm the problem hasn’t returned.
Why finding the cause matters under Awaab’s Law
Damp and mould has several possible sources, and they need different fixes. Condensation, penetrating damp (rain getting in) and rising damp (ground moisture moving up a wall) can look alike on a bedroom wall. We explain the differences in rising damp, condensation or penetrating damp?.
Get the diagnosis wrong and the money goes on the wrong repair. The mould returns, the tenant reports it again, and the clock starts again. In a lot of the North’s older housing stock, such as Victorian stone terraces, back-to-backs and solid-walled council houses exposed to Pennine wind-driven rain, there are often several causes at once: a cold solid wall, a blocked gutter and a kitchen without working extraction, for example.
How an independent damp and mould survey helps
An independent damp and mould investigation is one carried out by someone who isn’t selling the repair. For a landlord, that gives you:
- a clear finding on the cause or causes, based on a whole-building inspection rather than a moisture meter reading on one wall;
- evidence that you investigated properly, which supports the written summary Awaab’s Law requires;
- a prioritised repair plan that separates what needs doing to make the home safe now from what will stop the problem coming back;
- a record you can return to if the problem is reported again.
For tenants and their advisers, an independent report can also set out what’s actually going on where there’s a disagreement about the cause.
We carry out independent damp and timber surveys across West, North and South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and surrounding areas. Our surveyor is a PCA Qualified Technician in damp and timber, and we sell no treatments or repairs, so our only job is to find out what’s causing the problem. Read what happens in a damp survey, or contact us with the address and what’s been reported. We’ll confirm a fixed fee quoted for the property.
Sources and further reading
- Awaab’s Law: guidance for social landlords: timeframes for repairs in the social rented sector — GOV.UK
- Awaab’s Law: guidance for tenants in social housing — GOV.UK
- Awaab’s Law Phase 2: guidance for social housing landlords — GOV.UK
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 10A — legislation.gov.uk
- Damp and mould: understanding and addressing the health risks for rented housing providers — GOV.UK