Seven top tips for compliance with Awaab’s Law

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 introduced 'Awaab’s Law', which implies a term in all social housing tenancy agreements requiring landlords to investigate and remedy emergency and significant health and safety hazards, such as mould and damp in their properties, within very strict timeframes. Phase 1 commenced on 27 October 2025. 

At the end of last year, the government produced guidance for landlords and in this article, we set out our seven top tips for landlords facing enhanced responsibilities under Awaab’s Law.

1. Meet the timeframes 

Landlords must address all emergency and damp and mould hazards presenting a significant risk to harm to tenants within statutory timeframes. Awaab’s Law requires reactive rather than pre-emptive repairs.

These timeframes are longstop dates, not targets; landlords must complete works within the timeframes and keep tenants updated and informed throughout, providing them with suitable alternative accommodation if the works can’t be completed on time. 

Awaab’s Law will extend to other defects in 2026-27 under a test and learn approach. However, current hazards must still be addressed promptly; future phases do not create a loophole for ignoring existing issues.

2. Categorise hazards 

Landlords must classify hazards as either ‘significant’ or ‘emergency’ hazards. These are defined as follows:

Whilst the guidance states that hazards can be significant without tenant vulnerability, landlords must take a holistic approach in classifying hazards accounting for factors such as the tenants’ age, physical and mental health, the condition of the home and the nature of the hazard. This will help to establish the likelihood of harm materialising and the potential severity of that harm in that case. There is no one size fits all and each property and tenant must be reviewed and considered on a subjective basis.

3. Promote open communication

Robust processes are key to ensuring that landlords and their repair teams are notified of issues immediately. The timeframes begin when landlords become aware of potential hazards or  material changes to existing potential hazards. The concept of ‘becoming aware’ is quite broad. Tenants do not necessarily have to contact the right channels or even contact their landlords directly. Landlords can ‘become aware’ of potential hazards via:

• Routine inspections or visits by housing officers/support staff.
• Investigations into different or related hazards by maintenance staff.
• Notifications from third parties including contractors.
• Notifications from regulators or other bodies, e.g. the fire and rescue authority.
• Someone raising issues on tenant’s behalf, i.e. a solicitor, support worker, friend or neighbour.

Landlords must review their policies to ensure that information is recorded and acted upon. This will include making it clear to employees and third parties, such as contractors and solicitors, who to contact if they are in receipt of information which may cause the landlord to considered as 'becoming aware'. 

If parts or labour are unavailable, landlords must communicate this to their tenants. Transparency can reduce complaints and legal proceedings. 

4. Meticulous record keeping

This can include:

• Actions taken to address hazards/repairs.
• Specific vulnerabilities, physical and mental health conditions of tenants.
• Tenants’ preferred methods of contact and any reasonable adjustments that need to be made, ensuring compliance with data protection laws.  

Landlords need this information to classify hazards and identify appropriate next steps. It will also assist in evidencing at a later date, if necessary, why the council took the steps it did. This will be particularly helpful if a landlord determines that a hazard is neither a significant nor emergency hazard or where a hazard is solely being caused by a tenant.  

5. Review internal systems  

Landlords should review their teams and internal reporting systems and consider:

• Appointing ‘resident liaison officers’ to act as a single point of contact for residents. 
• Educating teams on causation e.g. faulty extractor fan could lead to excess damp and mould.
• Ensuring their contactors are reliable and available.
• Reviewing internal reporting systems.
• Hiring specific damp and mould inspectors/upskilling existing ones.
• Forming specialist damp and mould teams supported by resident liaison officers. 
• Adopting an ‘anchor and circle’ approach, whereby repair issues are digitally logged by housing officers during visits/inspections. 
• Re-allocating team members to form teams with different skillset and responsibilities, reducing isolation of team information and travel time for repair workers. 
• Investing in garage space to store materials to speed up repairs. 

6. Know your defence

A ‘reasonable endeavours’ defence applies if landlords can prove they used all reasonable endeavours  to comply with the regulations, but that it was unable to comply due to reasons genuinely beyond their control. Landlords must demonstrate that they are actively pursuing the completion of the repairs.

The primary obligation is for the landlord to investigate a potential hazard and the cause and depending on the nature and cause, to carry out any necessary works. 

If an investigation confirms that an issue is solely due to the tenant’s actions – such as turning off extractor fans/keeping windows closed – then the landlord is unlikely to be responsible as this is beyond their control. However, the landlord should provide the tenant with guidance as to how they can mitigate/avoid the issue. Often, this causes overlap and so landlords should carry out all reasonable measures to support their tenants in reducing or avoiding hazards including making improvements if the design of the property makes it susceptible to condensation. 

The government guidance states that it's unacceptable to assume a tenant is at fault; landlords must investigate and keep detailed records to justify decisions and create a paper trail if their actions and decisions are ever challenged. 

7. Use technology

The government previously indicated that an online portal could assist with streamlining notifications and track repairs.

There are also environmental sensors which can installed in to properties and can provide real time data insights in respect of environmental conditions of the landlord’s property portfolio. There are nuances to the use of this information as landlords who invest in this technology, would be expected to manage the data generated. 

Notification of potential risks from environmental monitoring systems, do not, in themselves, mean that a landlord has been ‘made aware’ of a current hazard. This is likely to be because the government does not want to deter landlords from being proactive. However, readings that indicate potential issues should still be investigated promptly. 

The government recently launched a £1m fund to improve landlord/tenant engagement and give tenants more influence. Grants of up to £100,000 could be awarded to landlords for ideas strengthening communication and giving tenants more influence. The aim is to replace outdated systems that leave tenants feeling unheard.

Tenants know their rights are changing and expect faster services with less tolerance for delays. They also want clear communication and transparency from landlords. We anticipate an initial rise in claims as landlords adjust to new timeframes, but hope that these will steadily decline as compliance becomes routine.

We continue to monitor the practical challenges of adhering to Awaab’s Law. For further information, please contact the property disputes team.