Housing Ombudsman statement on Awaab’s Law

Today the government announced it will bring Awaab’s Law into force for damp and mould in the social rented sector from October this year, and then extend to a wider range of hazards from 2026.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “We welcome these new measures to provide further protections for renters living in hazardous conditions and its extension to private landlords.

“It is a basic human right to live in a safe and decent home. This law is an important step towards helping the millions of people who do not – including 1 million children.

“When most residents have little choice over their landlord, these measures will give them greater power to challenge poor living conditions.

“We have seen some progress 2 years after the inquest into Awaab Ishak’s death.  We can see landlords investing more into repairs, using new technology and changing the culture of housing management. Those landlords should be recognised for the steps they have taken to make homes better in this vital sector.

“Despite this progress, we still repeatedly find significant and preventable failings in handling potential health hazards in homes. We find some landlords not taking full responsibility, communicating poorly and making basic errors. Around half of our casework still concerns damp and mould.

“Therefore, it is right that government has prioritized action on mould, but also committed to introducing Awaab’s Law to other hazards. These hazards have been in statute for 20 years but our casework repeatedly shows that some landlords have been far too slow to remove potential hazards, with risks remaining for months or even years.

“The expectations are clear and landlords should not wait until the last moment to make changes but extend the discipline of Awaab’s Law to other hazards as soon as possible, especially when handling mould alongside other hazards in the same home or block. This would avoid the shocking conditions we see in some cases, including children living with bedroom windows boarded up for years, older people experiencing broken boilers in winter and dead rats making homes uninhabitable.

“The social housing sector’s audit of its housing will also reveal the extent of the challenge with conditions. While some landlords are prepared for this, we can see from our casework that others will face significant challenges. This law should be a catalyst for landlords to get back on top of managing hazards, modernising their repair services and adopting a zero tolerance culture towards hazards.

“The Ombudsman will continue to share lessons from its casework to support landlords to meet the expectations of this law as well as using it to provide redress where we find failings.”