Awaab's Law and Private Landlords: Where It Stands

Awaab's Law does not apply to private landlords in England yet. It came into force for social housing on 27 October 2025. The Renters' Rights Act allows the government to extend it to private renting, and a consultation on how to do that runs until 18 December 2026. The government says the earliest feasible start date for private tenancies would be 2027, and no date has been set. Until then, private landlords still have to deal with damp, mould and other hazards under the existing rules, and the best preparation is a clear record of every report and what you did about it.

What Awaab's Law is

Awaab's Law is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who, in GOV.UK's words, died after being exposed to mould at his Rochdale home in December 2020. It sets fixed timescales for landlords to respond to serious hazards in a home.

For social landlords, the GOV.UK guidance for social landlords says the law came into force from 27 October 2025. Its first phase covers significant hazards from damp and mould, and all emergency hazards. Social landlords must:

• investigate a potential significant hazard within a fixed timescale;
• give the tenant a written summary of what the investigation found;
• make the home safe within a fixed timescale, and offer somewhere else to stay if it cannot be made safe in time;
• carry out the follow-up repair work;
• keep the tenant updated throughout.

Later phases extend this to most other hazards in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, except overcrowding. GOV.UK says the second phase is due on 30 November 2026, subject to Parliament.

Does Awaab's Law apply to private landlords?

Not yet. The Guide to the Renters' Rights Act confirms the Act extends Awaab's Law to privately rented homes, with the timescales to be consulted on. On 9 October 2026 the government published that consultation: Extending Awaab's Law to private rented tenancies and to licences. It closes at 11.59pm on 18 December 2026.

The quick answer is also on our help page: does Awaab's Law apply to private landlords?

What the consultation proposes

The consultation starts from the social housing rules and asks where private renting needs something different. The main points:

• Hazards covered. It proposes that the law should cover all HHSRS hazards except overcrowding, and asks whether that is right.
• Fixed timescales. It proposes fixed timescales to investigate, to give a written summary, to make safe and to repair. The exact timings are open questions, so treat any figure you see quoted for private landlords as a proposal, not the law.
• Somewhere else to stay. It asks whether private landlords should have to offer alternative accommodation when a home cannot be made safe in time, and notes concerns about cost and practicality.
• Exclusions and a defence. Hazards caused by the tenant breaking the tenancy, and hazards a freeholder is responsible for, are discussed separately. A landlord who took all reasonable steps but failed for reasons outside their control may have a defence, as in social housing.
• Enforcement. The requirements would be implied into tenancies, so a tenant could take a landlord to court for breach of contract. Tenants could also complain to the landlord, then to the new landlord ombudsman, or to the council.

When will it start for private renting?

The consultation says "the earliest feasible implementation date would be 2027", and asks whether it should start in 2027, 2028, 2029 or later. It also makes the case for phasing it in. Its impact assessment works on the assumption of three phases in 2028, 2029 and 2030. None of these is a decision: the government will set the dates after the consultation.

The implementation roadmap lists the private rented sector date as "TBC, subject to consultation".

What applies to private landlords today

The absence of Awaab's Law does not leave tenants without protection. Private landlords in England must still:

• keep the home free of Category 1 hazards, the most serious under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which treats damp and mould as a hazard;
• act on an improvement notice or other formal action from the council, which uses that system when it enforces.

The new Decent Homes Standard will add a further duty. The government response says rented homes must meet it by 2035 at the latest, and that landlords should act as quickly as possible rather than leave the work until the end.

How to prepare now

The social housing guidance strongly advises landlords to keep clear records of all engagement, investigations and communications with tenants. Private landlords can do the same today. It costs little, and it is what you will need to show if a complaint reaches the council, the ombudsman or a court.

1. Give tenants one clear way to report a problem, and tell them to include photos.
2. Log every report the day it arrives: the date, the room, what the tenant described, and the photos.
3. Decide quickly whether it could be an emergency, such as a gas smell, no heating or water, exposed wiring or a serious leak, and act the same day.
4. Arrange an inspection for damp and mould, and write down what was found and the likely cause.
5. Tell the tenant in writing what you found and what you will do, with a rough date.
6. Record the work: who did it, when, the invoice and before and after photos.
7. Follow up a few weeks later to check the problem has not come back.

Keep the tenant informed

The social housing guidance says landlords must keep the tenant updated throughout and give them information on how to keep safe, and take reasonable steps to tell them when work will happen and how it is going. That is good practice for any landlord now. A short message after each step, with a date, saves a lot of chasing, and it shows later that the tenant knew what was happening.

If you want a say on how the rules will work for private landlords, anyone can respond to the consultation, as an individual or for an organisation, before it closes at 11.59pm on 18 December 2026. The consultation page on GOV.UK explains how to respond.

Repair costs may be allowable against your rental income: see repair or improvement? for the line between the two.

Keeping the record in VoxaMTD

With VoxaMTD, a tenant's repair report reaches you whatever plan you are on, and the paid plans let you work each job in the app, with replies to the tenant and to contractors kept against the property. They also track each property's duties and remind you before a certificate lapses. When Awaab's Law reaches private renting, your repair history is already in one place. See how VoxaMTD tracks each property's duties.

Sources

Each page below was read on 2 November 2026.

• Awaab's Law: guidance for social landlords, timeframes for repairs in the social rented sector (GOV.UK, updated 16 July 2026)
• Extending Awaab's Law to private rented tenancies and to licences (GOV.UK consultation, published 9 October 2026)
• Guide to the Renters' Rights Act (GOV.UK, 6 November 2025)
• Implementing the Renters' Rights Act: our roadmap for reforming the private rented sector (GOV.UK, 13 November 2025)
• Consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard: government response (GOV.UK, updated 28 January 2026)
• Millions of tenants safe from black mould through Awaab's Law (GOV.UK news)
• Landlord and agent guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (GOV.UK, updated 16 September 2026)

This guide is general information, not legal advice. It covers private landlords in England.