The introduction of Awaab’s Law has set statutory time limits for how quickly social housing landlords must investigate and remedy damp and mould, reshaping expectations across the sector. Born from the 2020 death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, the law is embedded in Clause 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) Act 2025, and marks a significant shift in how responsiveness, safety and care are evidenced.
The legislation applies directly to social landlords, including local authorities and housing associations, but its impact extends through the supply chain. Contractors, surveyors and maintenance providers are now required to work to tighter timeframes, underpinned by accurate reporting and clear communication.
Phase 1 of Awaab’s Law focuses on damp and mould and introduces strict response times. Landlords must investigate complaints within 10 working days and, in serious cases, start remedial works or take temporary measures to make the home safe within five working days.
For example, if a bath leak leads to flooding and dampness across multiple rooms, a drying regime must be in place within five working days of inspection. Category 1 emergencies demand even faster action: investigation and works must both be completed within 24 hours, or tenants must be rehoused if the hazard cannot be controlled.
Compliance is not only about speed but also about proof. Landlords must demonstrate that work was carried out correctly, within the required timescales, and that every step was documented, dated and verified to create a defensible record.
For many local authority housing teams already grappling with ageing stock, constrained budgets and overlapping regulations, Awaab’s Law adds pressure but also creates an opportunity to modernise. Paper-based inspections, spreadsheets and disconnected contractor systems make it difficult to build a single, reliable view of compliance, particularly when data is captured inconsistently or needs to be retrieved years later.
The new framework pushes landlords towards evidence-led maintenance, where consistent data and connected systems support a clear audit trail across all parties involved in managing and maintaining homes. In effect, Awaab’s Law extends the “golden thread” of data principle seen in the Building Safety Act, ensuring every inspection, decision and action is traceable.
Connected digital systems can transform how landlords manage both reactive and planned maintenance. Many UK contractors already use cloud-based field tools such as Trimble Field View, enabling teams to capture photographs, notes and timestamps on-site, even when offline, with automatic syncing once a connection is available. This creates a transparent, time-stamped audit trail that can be reviewed and shared quickly.
In practice, a damp or mould report from a tenant can be tracked from first inspection through to final sign-off in a single system, complete with images and status updates. This improves communication between tenants and landlords, supports faster responses and helps rebuild trust through visible accountability.
When assessing digital platforms, landlords need to look beyond basic functionality and focus on how well each system supports compliance. Data security is a key starting point, including recognised certifications and robust data protection processes. Workflow capability is equally important: systems should be able to mirror the Awaab’s Law process flow, automatically notify the right people when serious hazards are raised, trigger relocation protocols where needed and flag approaching or missed deadlines.
On-site usability is critical to making these workflows work in practice. Field teams should be able to complete digital forms directly, capturing and tagging issue types such as visible mould growth, its location and severity using a Red-Amber-Green status, along with the responsible contractor or work package and photographic and GPS evidence.
The most effective tools also allow issues to be linked to 2D plans, 3D models or 360-degree imagery, providing clear visual context. This protects both landlord and tenant by establishing exactly what was observed and when. If a complaint escalates later, time-stamped images and records provide evidence that the issue was addressed in line with the required process.
Data longevity is another core consideration. Compliance is not just about today’s repair but about being able to access and interpret the associated records years into the future. With later phases of Awaab’s Law expected to cover structural and fire safety hazards, housing providers will need systems that store not only documents but also the decision-making history – who made which call, when and on what evidence.
Awaab’s Law is intended to deliver a safer, more transparent housing system, even though it was driven by tragedy. For social landlords, this means moving beyond reactive repairs towards measurable accountability, where every inspection, decision and intervention is captured and auditable.
Digital tools are central to that shift, turning compliance from a paper-heavy, fragmented exercise into a process of continuous assurance. Ultimately, the goal is not only to meet statutory deadlines but to ensure homes are safe, healthy and demonstrably well managed for the long term.
