Awaab’s Law Phase 2: what changes on 30th November

The law is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s flat in Rochdale. Since 27th October 2025, it has covered emergency hazards and damp and mould in social housing in England. Phase 2, due to start on 30th November 2026, adds:

• excess cold

• excess heat

• falls, including on stairs and between levels

• structural collapse

• fire and explosions

• electrical hazards

• domestic hygiene, including personal hygiene and food safety

Phase 2 still needs parliamentary approval, but government has already published updated guidance, so the sensible planning assumption is that 30th November holds. If it does, the processes landlords built for damp and mould will be tested on a wider set of hazards just as temperatures drop, when the consequences of a broken boiler or a cold home are likely to be more serious.

The deadlines stay the same. Emergency hazards must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. Significant hazards must be investigated within 10 working days. The tenant must then usually receive a written summary of the findings within three working days, and any safety work must be completed within five.

Phase 1 also set rules beyond those first deadlines. Landlords must start, or take steps to begin, any further work needed to stop the hazard coming back within five working days. Where that is not possible, the work must start as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 12 weeks. If a home cannot be made safe in time, they must arrange suitable alternative accommodation for the household at their own expense. They have a defence if they can show they used all reasonable endeavours to comply. All of this now applies to the new hazards too.

The 24-hour and 10-day clocks start when the landlord becomes aware of a potential hazard, and a tenant’s report is only one way that happens. A housing officer on a routine visit counts. So does a maintenance operative on site for a different job and, in some cases, a contractor. If an operative spots a hazard in a kitchen on Monday and it reaches the repairs system on Thursday, three of the 10 working days have already gone.

Spotting problems before anyone reports them#

By the time a landlord knows about a hazard, the problem may have been building for weeks. Sensors can show some of those problems developing, which is why councils have started testing them. In London, a pilot led by the London Office of Technology and Innovation and the Greater London Authority helped 16 boroughs install 155 temperature and humidity sensors.

That pilot was built to catch damp and mould, but Phase 2 means the same data can tell a landlord more. Temperature readings now also bear on two new hazard categories: excess cold and excess heat. A flat that stays cold through December is the kind of pattern a landlord could pick up and investigate before the tenant has to report it. At that point it may be a heating repair rather than an emergency call-out, and the household spends fewer cold nights waiting for it.

The guidance is supportive but careful. It sees monitoring as a way to stop hazards escalating. A sensor alert does not by itself mean the landlord is aware of a hazard, though consistent readings that point to a problem should prompt investigation. So a landlord that collects the data is expected to act on it, which only works if readings arrive from every property. Mark Cunningham, Head of Public Sector at TalkTalk Business, sees that as the hard part:

The Estate Readiness Report 2026/27 asks public sector leaders where their IoT and sensor networks are going next, and whether the connectivity is in place to carry them. It sets out five gaps that can hold estates back, with a self-assessment to help you see where yours sits. Read the report here.