Awaab’s Law
What Awaab’s Law actually requires.
Made under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, it sets statutory timescales for hazards in social housing. The timescales differ by hazard type and by severity, so the clock a provider is working to depends on what the hazard is judged to be — and that judgement has to be made, and recorded, at the point of first contact.
There is no blanket 24-hour duty for damp and mould.
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The timescales
Timescales are driven by specific conditions.
For a significant damp and mould hazard:
10 working days
Investigate
Where a significant damp and mould hazard is reported, the landlord must investigate within 10 working days.
3 working days
Written summary to the resident
Within 3 working days of that investigation concluding, the resident must be given a written summary of the findings.
5 working days
Make the home safe
Where the investigation finds a significant hazard, the works that make the home safe must be completed within 5 working days of the investigation concluding — temporary measures count. Any further preventative work must begin within 12 weeks.
24 hours
Emergency hazards only
Where the hazard is an emergency, safety works must be completed within 24 hours. This is the only 24-hour duty.
From 30 November 2026 the same timescales extend beyond damp and mould to further significant hazards — excess cold, excess heat, falls, structural collapse, fire and explosions, electrical hazards and domestic hygiene. Phase 2 guidance, GOV.UK.
Phase 2 hazards
Seven more hazards from 30 November 2026.
Phase 2 of Awaab’s Law applies the same duty, and the same clocks, to seven further HHSRS hazards. The government’s triage guidance, published on 31 July 2026, sets one test for which clock applies: would a reasonable landlord make the hazard safe within 24 hours, or within the working-day timescales for a significant hazard? It is an objective test, and the courts can hold a landlord to it.
Every worked example in that guidance turns on who lives in the home. A broken handrail is a significant hazard in one household and an emergency where the only bathroom is upstairs and the resident is eighty. Which is why the triage decision needs the vulnerability record open at the moment of contact, not after the case has been logged.
Hazard 1 of 7
Excess cold
A home that cannot be kept at a safe indoor temperature — a failed heating system, missing insulation, an opening that will not close.
Hazard 2 of 7
Excess heat
Indoor temperatures the resident has no way to bring down — windows that cannot be opened, a communal heating fault that runs hot.
Hazard 3 of 7
Falls
Falls on the level, on stairs and between levels — a loose handrail, a damaged tread, an uneven or defective floor.
Hazard 4 of 7
Structural collapse
A building element that has failed or is at risk of failing — a rotten floor, an unsafe ceiling, roof coverings that have slipped.
Hazard 5 of 7
Fire and explosions
Fire, smoke and fumes, and the risk of a blast — including missing or failed detection. The guidance expects most of these to be emergencies.
Hazard 6 of 7
Electrical hazards
Installations that put the resident at risk of shock or burns — damaged sockets, exposed conductors, wiring that has deteriorated.
Hazard 7 of 7
Domestic hygiene
Conditions that stop a home being kept clean and sanitary — pest infestation, or no adequate means of storing and disposing of waste.
Source: Awaab’s Law Phase 2: guidance to support triaging of hazards, GOV.UK. The guidance describes 30 November 2026 as subject to parliamentary approval; the amendment regulations have been laid.
One message, 21:40 on a Friday
Rarely just a repair.
What the resident said
“…it’s in the , there’s and . It’s been like that . and she really feels the cold. , but no one has come out.”
Also captured to the property record: room, item and how long.
What key2housing heard
You can only manage what you know.
key2housing goes beyond automated repair booking. It recognises damp and mould as a hazard with statutory timescales, and raises a case in accordance with your SOPs. It then ensures the other three signals are actioned too. The result is an auditable set of decisions from the first point of contact through to case work, each one gated by a member of your team, in full view of the evidence collected.
The landlord was aware by 21:40 at the latest — the June call may put it earlier — and not when someone raised a case on Monday.
A person still decides, and nothing reaches the tenancy record without confirmation. What an officer opens on Monday is already triaged.
The hard part
Knowing the timescales is only half the problem.
Response time is tracked from the moment the landlord became aware. In the example above, that was 21:40 on a Friday — not when someone opened a case on Monday.
key2housing recognises the hazard in the conversation itself and records when it was raised. A person still decides what happens next; the difference is that the clock is running from the right moment, and you can show it.
Questions