Awaab's Law Explained: A Tenant's Guide to Your New Rights

Who was Awaab Ishak?

Awaab Ishak was a boy of two from Rochdale who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his family's housing association flat. His parents had reported the mould again and again. They were told to paint over it.

The coroner's inquest in 2022 concluded that Awaab died as a direct result of the mould in his home. The law that followed carries his name, and it is aimed squarely at the landlords who let that happen.

What Awaab's Law actually requires

Awaab's Law was created by section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. It writes strict repair deadlines directly into social housing tenancy agreements.

That matters more than it sounds. Because the deadlines sit inside your tenancy agreement, a landlord who misses one is in breach of contract, and a breach of contract is something you can take legal action over.

The timescales

Why the written summary matters

Your landlord has to tell you in writing what they found, whether they treat it as a hazard, and what they intend to do about it. Keep that letter somewhere safe. If the work never happens, it is your landlord's own record of what was wrong with your home, and it becomes some of the strongest evidence you can have.

Phase 1: what is covered now

Since 27 October 2025, Awaab's Law has applied to two things:

• Damp and mould that presents a significant risk to your health or safety

• Emergency hazards of any kind that pose an imminent and significant risk

In practice that covers black mould on walls and ceilings, persistent condensation damp, penetrating damp from leaks and roofs, rising damp, and any sudden dangerous defect such as a gas leak, a collapsing ceiling, exposed live wiring or a total loss of heating in cold weather. Our guide to damp and mould compensation goes into what those claims are worth.

Phase 2: what changes on 30 November 2026

From 30 November 2026, Awaab's Law expands well beyond damp and mould. Phase 2 brings in a much broader range of hazards drawn from the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, including:

• Excess cold and excess heat

• Falls on stairs, falls on the level and falls between levels

• Structural collapse and falling elements

• Fire hazards and electrical hazards

• Explosions

• Domestic hygiene, pests and refuse

• Food safety, personal hygiene, sanitation and drainage

A further phase is expected in 2027 to bring in the hazards that are still left out.

What this means for you. From 30 November 2026, a broken stair rail, a home you cannot heat or a serious electrical fault will carry the same legally enforceable deadlines that damp and mould carry today. If you are living with one of those problems right now, you do not have to sit and wait for Phase 2. Your landlord already owes you repairing duties under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and those duties have been in place for forty years.

Who Awaab's Law applies to

Awaab's Law applies to registered providers of social housing. In plain terms, that means councils and housing associations.

It is rare for a law and the people reading about it to line up this neatly. If your landlord is a council or a housing association, Awaab's Law was written with you in mind. There is no small print to work through and no category you have to squeeze yourself into. You rent from a social landlord, so the deadlines in the table above are your deadlines, and your landlord is already meant to be meeting them.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 provides for Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard to be extended more widely across the rented sector in due course. The social housing rollout comes first, and it is already live.

Does Awaab's Law apply everywhere in the UK?

Awaab's Law applies in England only. Housing law is devolved, so the rest of the UK has its own rules:

• Wales. The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 requires your home to be fit for human habitation and deals specifically with damp and mould. We act for tenants in Wales.

• Scotland. The Repairing Standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, enforced through the housing tribunal.

• Northern Ireland. Its own fitness standard under the Housing (NI) Order 1992.

What to do if your landlord misses an Awaab's Law deadline

Step 1. Put it in writing. Email your landlord. State the date you first reported the hazard, the deadline they have missed and that you are relying on Awaab's Law. Ask them for their written summary of findings.

Step 2. Use their formal complaints process. Every social landlord has to run a complaints procedure with two stages. Start at Stage 1 and push it to Stage 2 if the answer you get is inadequate.

Step 3. Take it to the Housing Ombudsman. Once you have your landlord's final response, you can complain to the Housing Ombudsman Service, which can order your landlord to carry out the works and pay compensation. Our guide to making a Housing Ombudsman complaint walks through the process.

Step 4. Report it to environmental health. Your council can inspect your home under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and serve an improvement notice on your landlord.

Step 5. Bring a legal claim. Because Awaab's Law is written into your tenancy agreement, a missed deadline is a breach of contract, which may give you a claim for the repairs and for compensation.

You do not have to work through these in order. Plenty of tenants run a formal complaint and a legal claim side by side, and a solicitor can keep both moving at once.

Evidence to gather now

Whatever route you take, the same evidence does the work. Start collecting it today rather than when you need it:

• Photographs and video of the hazard, dated, taken in daylight

• Every email, letter and text message to and from your landlord

• A dated log of every phone call, every visit and every missed appointment

• Your landlord's written summary of findings, if they sent one

• GP records if anyone in the household has become unwell

• Receipts for anything that has been damaged or replaced

Can you claim compensation for a missed deadline?

You may be able to, depending on your circumstances. Awaab's Law does not set up a separate compensation scheme of its own. What it does is fix, in writing, the exact point at which your landlord ran out of time.

That sits alongside a standard housing disrepair claim and makes it considerably harder for your landlord to argue that they acted reasonably. A claim of that kind can cover the repairs themselves, compensation for the months or years you lived with the problem, and money back for belongings the damp or the leak destroyed. Our guide to housing disrepair compensation explains how those figures are worked out.

Claims like these are normally funded on a no win no fee basis. Our success fee is capped at 25% of any compensation you are awarded, and an After the Event insurance premium may also be deducted. Every deduction is set out in writing before you sign anything.

Frequently asked questions

What is Awaab's Law in simple terms?

It is a law that gives social landlords fixed legal deadlines to investigate and repair dangerous hazards in tenants' homes, starting with damp and mould.

When did Awaab's Law come into force?

27 October 2025 for damp, mould and emergency hazards. Phase 2 extends it to a much wider list of hazards from 30 November 2026.

How long does my landlord have to fix damp and mould?

They must investigate within 10 working days of you reporting it, write to you with their findings within 3 working days of that investigation concluding, and make your home safe within 5 working days of the investigation concluding.

What counts as an emergency under Awaab's Law?

Any hazard posing an imminent and significant risk to health or safety. Your landlord must investigate it and make it safe within 24 hours.

Can I claim compensation under Awaab's Law?

The requirements are written into your tenancy agreement, so missing them is a breach of contract. That can be claimed for alongside a standard housing disrepair claim, although what you may recover always depends on your own circumstances.

Does Awaab's Law apply to my landlord?

If you rent from a council or a housing association in England, yes. Awaab's Law applies to registered providers of social housing, which is what councils and housing associations are.