Awaab’s Law: How it affects landlords and tenants starting Oct 2025

The government announced a landmark move: Awaab’s Law will require landlords to fix problematic homes, starting with damp and mould and moving to a much broader set of analysis and monitoring platform; Awaab’s Law:; hazards, like excessive coldness.

This affects social landlords immediately, and potentially later for private landlords too.

In 2020, due to severe respiratory condition, Awaab Ishak died in a social housing in Rochdale. The property “had inadequate ventilation” and “was not equipped for normal day-to-day living activities which led to excess damp and condensation” as reported by the coroner. "Excess damp and condensation" and the "extensive mould" that caused the tragedy. The property’s kitchen does not have mechanical ventilation and the fan in bathroom was not effective. Health visitor reports in 2020 also identified similarly.

Key timelines of  Awaab’s Law:

• From October 2025, social landlords must investigate and fix dangerous damp and mould hazards in set timescales.

• Also from October 2025, social landlords must address all emergency hazards (including damp/mould or other immediate hazards) so that repairs are made “as soon as possible” and no later than 24 hours.

• In 2026, the law will expand to cover a wider range of hazards: excess cold, excess heat, falls, fire, electrical hazards, hygiene hazards etc.

• In 2027 the full list of hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) Regulations 2005 (HHSRS) will apply.

• The government also intends to extend these protections to the private rented sector through the forthcoming Renters’ Rights Bil, meaning private landlords should pay very close attention.

  
  

Source:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/awaabs-law-to-force-landlords-to-fix-dangerous-homes

Why You Should Care

For tenants, damp, mould and other hazards do real harm to health and wellbeing. You should know what you can do to reduce the risk of this, and what’s right under the new law.

For landlords, this is a shift from reactive maintenance to proactive hazard-management. The format is changing: you’ll need monitoring and timely actions.

What Landlords Can Prepare:

Do you understand your property’s  current condition?

How far it’s from breaking the new Law?

What’s the maintenance cycle and how can you prepare to avoid breaking the law?

• Audit the current housing stock:

  How many units have known damp/mould issues? How many other hazards (cold, heat, fire) have flagged?

• Deploy monitoring technology: Sensors can provide key parameters (humidity, temperature, CO₂, ventilation) signaling possible issues.

• Train management teams: Everyone from ground-staff, contract maintenance, and property managers should know the new timescales, thresholds, escalation procedures. Define standards for “investigation” and “fixing” for each hazard category. Ensure you can meet 24-hour emergency repair windows for relevant hazards.

• Communicate with tenants: Let them know you’re aware of Awaab’s Law  and how you’re preparing. Transparent communication lowers risk of complaints and builds trust.

• Budget for preventative work: Set aside funds for expansion of hazard-monitoring, data analysis, remedial works — don’t treat this as a surprise cost later.

If you have problem understanding the conditions inside the property, analysis and monitoring platform could help provide insight of potential issues and let you prepare in advance. Not only real-time data is obtained from sensors to deliver real -time measurement.

Wellsmart analysis team integrates built environment professional knowledge, to review home layout and possible sources of problems, to deliver a projection of your home issues (like a health check) ahead of time.