Awaab’s Law to ensure landlords fix dangerous homes

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

On 6 February, MHCLG announced that Awaab’s Law will come into force from October, ensuring social landlords have to investigate and fix dangerous damp and mould within a set amount of time, as well as repairing all emergency hazards within 24 hours. Landlords who fail to comply face being taken to court, with social tenants able to use the full powers of the law to hold them to account.

The government is intending to lay the Awaab’s Law regulations in parliament as quickly as possible so it can to secure these protections and provide the sector with clarity to prepare ahead of requirements coming into force in October this year. Awaab’s Law will be introduced through a phased approach, set out below, to ensure it is applied as effectively as possible. The law is a lasting legacy to two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who tragically died after being exposed to mould at his Rochdale home in December 2020.

The phased approach will work as follows:

• From October 2025, social landlords will have to address damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm to tenants to fixed timescales
• From October 2025, social landlords will also have to address all emergency repairs including for damp and mould or other hazards as soon as possible and within no longer than 24 hours
• In 2026, requirements will expand to apply to a wider range of hazards. In addition to damp and mould, the hazards we expect to extend Awaab’s Law to in this second stage of implementation include excess cold and excess heat; falls; structural collapse; fire, electrical and explosions; and hygiene hazards
• Then in 2027, the requirements of Awaab’s Law will expand to the remaining hazards as defined by the HHSRS (excluding overcrowding). The full list of hazards can be found in schedule 1 to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) Regulations 2005.