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Awaab’s Law was originally introduced into the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 after the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in Rochdale in 2020 from prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s social-housing flat. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 extends the same SLA framework into the Private Rented Sector from October 2026 (subject to commencement order). For the first time, private landlords face statutory time limits on responding to and remediating health and safety hazards — not aspirational targets, but enforceable obligations with civil penalties up to £30,000 and FTT-awarded compensation to the tenant.

The SLA structure has three hazard tiers. Emergency hazards (significant and imminent risk of harm — typically gas leaks, electrical risks, sewage flooding, total loss of heating in winter, exposed asbestos) require landlord action started within 24 hours of being made aware. Significant hazards (Category 1 HHSRS hazards, including damp and mould affecting children or vulnerable adults, persistent damp covering more than 0.5 m², fire-safety failures) require investigation within 14 days and repair work to start within 7 days of investigation conclusion. Standard hazards (Category 2 HHSRS, lower-risk damp, single-room repair issues) require investigation within 14 days and repairs within a reasonable time, typically 28 days.

The tenant trigger is broad. A written report (text, email, SMS, letter) from the tenant naming the hazard starts the clock. Verbal reports also count if the tenant can demonstrate they were made (one of the strongest reasons for a tenant portal with timestamped messages). The clock does not stop for landlord absence, contractor availability, weekends or bank holidays — 24 hours means 24 hours, including the call-out at 11pm on a Saturday for an emergency hazard.

Defences are narrow. The landlord can escape liability by proving (i) the hazard was caused by tenant breach (provable damage, not lifestyle factors like “insufficient ventilation”), (ii) the property was inaccessible despite reasonable attempts to access (Section 11(6) LTA 1985 24-hour notice properly given and refused), or (iii) compliance was prevented by force majeure. Each defence must be evidenced with dated written records — the absence of evidence is treated by the FTT as concession of liability.

The single biggest factor that determines whether a hazard report becomes a Rent Repayment Order claim is the audit log. A landlord who can produce a chronological record of the tenant report (timestamp), acknowledgement (within 24 hours), investigation visit (within 14 days for significant), surveyor report (with photographs), repair quote acceptance, contractor scheduling, repair completion and tenant sign-off has a near-impregnable defence. A landlord who can produce nothing more than “I sent a plumber out at some point” loses the case routinely.

This SLA timer takes the hazard severity, report date and current investigation / repair status, and outputs a traffic-light view of where you are against each statutory deadline. Inside LetCompliance the same logic powers the Awaab’s Law dashboard, which auto-generates contractor instruction emails, photographic evidence templates and the audit-log entries that survive FTT scrutiny. Use this calculator as a snapshot; use the app as the operational system.