Awaab’s Law

Responding to emergencies and serious problems.

A new set of government rules called Awaab’s Law come into effect on 27 October 2025. The law is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who tragically died due to mould in his home.

The law sets rules for how quickly we need to deal with emergency and serious health and safety problems in your home, and how we keep you updated.

For emergency problems, we’ll:

• Investigate the problem within 24 hours of knowing about it. If it’s an emergency, we will:
• Complete work to make your home safe within 24 hours of completing the investigation.

For problems that are a serious risk but not emergencies, we’ll:

• Investigate it within 10 working days of knowing about it.
• Give you a written summary of our findings within three days of completing the investigation.
• Do work to make your home safe within five working days of completing the investigation.
• Take steps to start any follow-up work to prevent the problem coming back within five working days of completing the investigation, and start it within 12 weeks.

For both emergency and serious problems:

• If we can’t make your home safe within these times, we’ll find you somewhere else suitable to stay while the work is being done.
• We’ll keep you updated while we’re fixing the problem and provide you with information on how to keep safe.

We’ve updated our repairs policy in line with Awaab’s Law.

Damp and mould

One of the problems covered by Awaab’s Law is damp and mould. Damp or condensation in your home can cause mould, which can affect your health.

If you spot any damp and mould in your home, it's really important you report it so we can deal with it quickly.

Visit our damp, condensation and mould page for advice on how to prevent mould and keep your home healthy, as well as how to report it.