In October 2025, the UK government introduced Awaab’s Law, a landmark change aimed at improving the safety and quality of social housing across England. The law is named in memory of Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who tragically died following prolonged exposure to damp and mould in his family’s home.
What is Awaab’s Law?
From October 2025, Awaab’s law states that social housing providers must investigate and remediate serious damp and mould hazards within legally binding timeframes. Where hazards are judged to be emergencies, remedial action must begin within 24 hours.
For less acute but still significant damp or mould problems, housing providers must:
- Investigate within 10 working days of being notified
- Provide tenants with a written summary within three working days of the inspection
- Begin remedial work typically within five working days.
Failure to meet these deadlines may result in enforcement action, legal claims, compensation orders, and reputational damage.
What this means for housing providers
Awaab’s Law shifts damp and mould management from best practice guidance to legally enforceable standards. Key implications include:
Faster, mandatory response times
Social housing providers must assess and address damp and mould issues within strict deadlines
Clear communication with tenants
Written findings and remediation plans are required following every inspection.
Legal accountability
Failure to act within the prescribed periods exposes landlords to legal challenges.
Proactive maintenance
Providers must move from reactive repairs to structured programmes of early detection, routine inspection, and preventative works.
While the first phase focuses on damp and mould (and emergency hazards), subsequent phases from 2026 to 2027 will extend to other hazards covered by the housing health and safety standard framework.
For housing providers with large, complex portfolios, meeting these expectations will require enhanced inspection regimes, robust reporting processes, and reliable contractor support capable of delivering high quality, time critical works.
How Elkins Construction can help
At Elkins, our established repairs, maintenance, and compliance-focused processes make us ideally placed to support housing providers in meeting the requirements of Awaab’s Law. With more than 60 years of experience in the industry and a dedicated direct labour workforce, we provide consistency, quality, and rapid mobilisation when it matters most.
Damp and mould surveys and remediation
Our teams carry out detailed investigations to identify root causes, including ventilation failures, structural leaks, roofing defects, plumbing issues, and condensation risk, ensuring long-term solutions rather than temporary surface treatments. Our in-house roofing team, led by experienced specialists, supports investigations where water ingress or roof condition may be contributing factors.
Rapid response capability
We understand the new statutory response times and offer rapid deployment for emergency issues, clear escalation routes, and efficient scheduling to support housing providers in meeting the 24 hour and five day remedial requirements. Our digital job management systems provide timestamped records, photographic evidence, and audit trails.
Resident-friendly delivery
We prioritise safety, cleanliness, and minimal disruption. Our operatives are experienced in working in live occupied environments, liaising sensitively with residents and providing clear communication throughout inspection and remedial works.
Compliance and documentation
Awaab’s Law places high importance on documentation. Our established QA processes include checklists, photographic verification, works certification, and structured reporting. We ensure providers have the evidence required to demonstrate timely action and compliance.
Preventative and planned maintenance
To support proactive management, we provide routine inspection and maintenance services covering damp risks, ventilation systems, plumbing, roofing, and external fabric condition. This helps reduce recurrence and ensures long-term compliance and asset protection.
Support with decarbonisation and ventilation improvements
As providers move towards PAS2030 and wider decarbonisation goals, we can support ventilation upgrades, window replacements, insulation works, and energy efficient improvements, which are key components in addressing condensation and mould at the source.
Why Elkins?
- Over 60 years’ experience delivering repairs, maintenance, and refurbishment in social housing
- In-house trade operatives ensuring consistent quality and rapid mobilisation
- Specialist roofing and fabric teams for leak and water ingress related works
- Strong QA culture with detailed documentation and photo evidence
- Expertise in live, occupied environments
- Capability across fabric, M&E, ventilation, and compliance-driven works
- Alignment with housing providers working towards improved safety, health, and decarbonisation outcomes
Ensuring safe and healthy homes
Awaab’s Law is a significant milestone in social housing regulation. It gives residents greater protection and places clear, time sensitive responsibility on landlords to tackle health hazards quickly.
For social housing providers, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity: a challenge to strengthen repair and maintenance systems, but also an opportunity to improve resident trust, deliver safer homes, and demonstrate responsible asset management.
At Elkins, these expectations align with our values and the standards we deliver every day. We are ready to support social housing providers in achieving full compliance and, above all, ensuring homes are safe, healthy, and comfortable for the people who live in them.
If you’d like to discuss how we can support your housing stock in meeting Awaab’s Law requirements, please get in touch at enquiries@elkinsconstruction.co.uk
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