Awaab’s Law is named after Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old who died in 2020 from prolonged exposure to mould in a social home. Since 27 October 2025 it has put every social landlord in England on a hard, statutory clock for dealing with hazards. And the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 contains the framework to extend it to private landlords — expected, though not yet formally dated, in 2027.
Here’s the opportunity hiding in that timeline: most private landlords aren’t watching this yet. The term “Awaab’s Law” is about to move from social-housing circles into the mainstream private-rental conversation. Get your repair-logging right now and you’re not scrambling when it lands — you’re positioned ahead of a search term and an obligation that are both about to grow fast.
General information, not legal advice. The extension to the private sector is in the government’s implementation roadmap and its timing is subject to consultation — treat 2027 as an expectation, not a fixed date. The current social-housing rules are summarised by Shelter — How Awaab’s Law changes the rules on hazards and in the GOV.UK Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act.
The clock that already runs in social housing
Since October 2025, when a social landlord becomes aware of a relevant hazard, the statutory timescales are:
| Trigger | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Emergency hazard (imminent risk — gas, electrical, serious damp/mould affecting health) | Investigate and act within 24 hours |
| Significant hazard — investigate | Within 10 working days of becoming aware |
| Written summary of findings to the tenant | Within 3 working days of the investigation ending |
| Make safe / begin remedial works | Within 5 working days of the investigation ending (long-stop 12 weeks to commence works) |
| If it can’t be made safe in time | Decant the tenant at the landlord’s expense |
Two things stand out for any landlord. First, the clock starts when you become aware — so when the tenant told you is now a legally loaded fact. Second, these are evidenced obligations: you don’t just have to act fast, you have to be able to show you did.
It’s getting broader, not just closer
Awaab’s Law is being phased in even within social housing, and the direction of travel tells private landlords what’s coming:
- Phase 1 (from 27 Oct 2025): damp and mould, plus all emergency hazards.
- Phase 2 (from 30 Nov 2026): extends to more hazards — excess cold and heat, falls, fire and electrical safety, structural issues, hygiene.
- Phase 3 (~2027): expected to cover almost all hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).
The extension to the private rented sector sits in the later phase of the Renters’ Rights Act roadmap. By the time it reaches private landlords, the standard it imports won’t be “damp and mould” — it’ll be a broad statutory duty with a stopwatch attached.
Why your repair record has to change
Under this regime, an informal chain of texts and half-remembered phone calls is a liability. If a hazard becomes a dispute — or a claim — you’ll need to prove, on the record:
- When you were told. The date and time the tenant first reported it (this starts every clock).
- What was reported, and its severity — with the tenant’s own words and, ideally, photos.
- What you did, and when — investigation, the written summary you sent, the contractor you instructed, the date works began.
- How it resolved — the fix, the completion date, and confirmation.
This is the same lesson the rest of the Renters’ Rights Act teaches from a different angle: post-Section 21, your rent ledger has to stand up in court, and post-Awaab, your repair log has to do the same. In both cases the winning record is contemporaneous, dated and complete — not reconstructed after the fact.
How to document a repair so it counts
For every issue a tenant raises, capture — as it happens, not later:
- The report: date, time, what was said, photos from the tenant.
- Your response: date you acknowledged it, date you investigated, the written summary you provided.
- The contractor: who you instructed, their contact details, the date they attended.
- The resolution: what was done, completion date, and any follow-up or sign-off.
Kept this way, an issue that later becomes contentious is already fully evidenced — a single dated history from report to resolution, exportable on demand. Kept as scattered messages, the same issue is a weekend spent stitching a defence together.
What matters
Awaab’s Law is already live for social landlords and heading for the private sector, expected around 2027 — and it arrives as a broad, evidenced duty with statutory deadlines, not a narrow damp-and-mould rule. The landlords who’ll cope aren’t the ones who react fastest in 2027; they’re the ones who already log every issue properly today: when it was reported, what was done, by whom, and how it ended.
That’s exactly the record Livra is built to keep — maintenance issues with a status, photos, the contractor’s contact and a full dated history per property. Start logging that way now, and when Awaab’s Law reaches the private sector you won’t change how you work. You’ll already be doing it.