From 30 November 2026, social landlords in England must act on seven more categories of hazard to fixed legal deadlines, including fire, electrical faults, excess cold and structural collapse.<\/p>\n
Phase 1, in force since 27 October 2025, covered emergency hazards and damp and mould. Phase 2 turns Awaab’s Law from a damp-and-mould rule into a whole-home safety duty. Here Triton Security sets out what the law is, what changes in November and what it means in practice.<\/p>\n
What is Awaab\u2019s Law?<\/strong> The law was introduced through the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. Its detail sits in the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, which Phase 2 amends. It writes a term into every social housing tenancy, so tenants can take their landlord to court for breach of contract if the deadlines are missed. They can also complain through the landlord and the Housing Ombudsman.<\/p>\n It applies to almost all social housing let under a tenancy by a registered provider, meaning councils and housing associations. That includes temporary and supported housing let on a tenancy. It does not cover licences, long leaseholds or shared ownership.<\/p>\n What changes on 30th November 2026?<\/strong> From 30th November, the law covers these hazards where they present a significant risk of harm:<\/p>\n The deadlines all landlords must meet:<\/strong><\/p>\n A hazard is deemed “significant” if a reasonable landlord would make it safe within 15 working days, and an “emergency” if they would make it safe within 24 hours. The test is judged against the actual household, including children, older people and anyone with a health condition. The clock starts when the landlord becomes aware, which can include reports made to contractors, managing agents or other council departments.<\/p>\n What does Phase 2 mean in reality?<\/strong><\/em> For contractors and managing agents<\/strong> For boards and senior leadership teams<\/strong> For tenants<\/strong> Thomas Hoyle, Director of Waking Watch at Triton Security commented on the upcoming changes: \u201cPhase 2 asks providers to treat fire, electrical and structural risks with the same urgency as damp and mould, and the first month of the new duty fall in the coldest part of the year, when reports tend to rise. Policies on paper rarely show where a report stalls. The providers best placed for the changes to come on 30th November will be those who have rehearsed the process: taking a realistic case through triage, investigation, repair and rehousing against the clock, and fixing the weak points while there is still time.\u201d<\/p>\n Five steps to take before 30th November<\/strong><\/p>\n From 30 November 2026, social landlords in England must act on seven more categories of hazard to fixed legal deadlines, including fire, electrical faults, excess cold and structural collapse. Phase 1, in force since 27 October 2025, covered emergency hazards and damp and mould. Phase 2 turns Awaab’s Law from a damp-and-mould rule into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/openclipart-vectors-air-conditioning-148619_1280.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25428,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25426\/revisions\/25428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAwaab’s Law sets legal deadlines for social landlords in England to investigate and fix hazards that put tenants’ health or safety at risk. It is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s home in Rochdale. His parents had complained to their landlord repeatedly for three years before his death, and the mould was never treated.<\/p>\n
\nPhase 2 adds seven hazard categories to the same fixed deadlines that already apply to damp and mould. The government confirmed the date on 13th July 2026 and published updated guidance on 31st July 2026. Phase 3, planned for 2027, will extend the law to every remaining hazard in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) except overcrowding.<\/p>\n\n
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\n Deadline<\/strong><\/td>\n Requirement<\/strong><\/td>\n Operational question<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Within 24 hours<\/td>\n Investigate a potential emergency hazard and, if confirmed, complete relevant safety work as soon as reasonably practicable and within 24 hours.<\/td>\n Who can attend, decide, escalate and make safe at any hour?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Within 10 working days<\/td>\n Investigate a potential significant hazard.<\/td>\n Can reports be triaged and routed to a competent investigator without delay?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Within 3 working days<\/td>\n Usually provide the tenant with a written summary after the investigation concludes.<\/td>\n Can you turn field evidence into clear, accessible resident communication?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Within 5 working days<\/td>\n Complete relevant safety work for a significant hazard also begin, or take steps to begin, work to prevent recurrence.<\/td>\n Are suppliers, parts, temporary controls and approvals ready before a case arises?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Within 12 weeks<\/td>\n Where preventative work cannot begin within five working days, it must begin as soon as reasonably practicable and within 12 weeks.<\/td>\n Can you show ownership, progress, decisions and a defensible audit trail?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nFor housing providers<\/strong>
\nPhase 2 is a step change in both volume and complexity. Fire, electrical and structural hazards need specialist investigators, and the guidance is clear that an electrical hazard should be assessed by a qualified electrician. Every report must be triaged against the household’s circumstances, tracked against the clock and evidenced. A landlord’s defence is that it used all reasonable endeavours, so records of every contact, access attempt and decision matter as much as the repair itself.<\/p>\n
\nWhat they see on site can start the landlord’s legal clock. The guidance asks landlords to review contracts so that operatives report any hazard they notice, not just the job they were sent to do.<\/p>\n
\nThis is a governance and assurance question. Boards will want evidence that triage, escalation and reporting work end-to-end before 30th November, not after the first missed deadline.<\/p>\n
\nPhase 2 means a clearer right to safe homes. They are entitled to a written summary of what was found, a timeline for the fix, and alternative accommodation if their home can’t be made safe in time.<\/p>\n\n