Awaab's Law

Why it matters

What Awaab's Law means for a landlord

Awaab’s Law was written for social housing after the preventable death of Awaab Ishak from mould exposure, and has bound social landlords since 27 October 2025. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 carries the power to extend the timescale-based duties to the private rented sector, but the regulations that would do it have not been made, so no Awaab investigation or repair window runs on a private tenancy today. That is not permission to let a damp-and-mould complaint sit in a landlord’s inbox for weeks. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 and HHSRS already bite, and a council can already serve an Improvement Notice, so a slow response is not just a reputational risk, and the paper trail of when a tenant reported the hazard is already legally decisive. That is why it is worth running the clock before the law makes you.

Worked example

How it plays out

Common mistakes

Where landlords go wrong

1. 01Assuming Awaab’s Law already binds a private landlord: it applies to social landlords, and no date has been set for the private sector.
2. 02Assuming nothing applies instead: disrepair, fitness for habitation and HHSRS enforcement all apply to private lets now.
3. 03Treating damp and mould as a lifestyle problem without checking for leaks, poor ventilation or heating faults.
4. 04Not logging when a report arrived and what was done, which is the first thing a council or court will ask.

What to do

A short checklist

• Keep one dated log for every repair or hazard report, whatever channel it arrives on.
• Reply to damp and mould reports in writing the same day and arrange an inspection.
• Write down what you found, what you will fix and by when, and send it to the tenant.
• Check again after the work to confirm the problem has gone.