Why Compliance Is More Than Just Completing Repairs

Awaab’s Law is the result of a concerted effort to address the failings which led to the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in 2020. The Rochdale toddler suffered prolonged exposure to damp and mould at his parent’s flat, and the disrepair issue wasn’t properly resolved by the landlord.

While this high profile case served as the landmark to trigger a significant shift in a landlord’s legislative responsibilities, it is only one of many similar cases of neglect and failure of duty on behalf of landlords. Furthermore, while the landlord not repairing the damp and mould issue was what led to the child’s death, there was an extensive list of systematic failings which led up to, and therefore also contributed to, this tragic event.

For this reason, a landlord with a portfolio of properties, or even only one property, needs to fully understand the new Awaab’s Law requirements whether they are faced with damp and mould issues or not. This is because compliance is not simply about carrying out repairs faster, it is about a cultural shift which prioritises tenant health and safety and provides the tools for a landlord to carry out proactive management in order to avoid these issues developing.

Operational changes introduced by the Awaab’s Law regulations

The headline requirement of Awaab’s Law is that landlords now need to respond to damp and mould issues within a 24-hour period for emergency repairs, and a 10-day period for non-emergency repairs. However, there is much more to the compliance requirements than this, and the aim of the regulations is to introduce operational change which brings more structure, better communication and some preventive strategy to how a landlord operates.

Beyond simply completing repairs within stricter timeframes, landlords are now required to:

• Produce documentation

Once a damp and mould issue has been investigated, a landlord must produce a written summary of the investigation and provide this to the tenant. This document must include the findings of the investigation, details of any action taken and details of any action that is now planned or recommended. The landlord must provide this written summary within three days of the investigation taking place. This not only prompts the landlord to act quickly, it also provides documentation which proves the damp and mould issue has been suitably investigated.

This is helpful documentation for the tenant in terms of their health and safety and peace of mind, but also for the landlord, who is in compliance with the regulations in terms of providing a paper trail as evidence that an issue has been properly investigated. Simply carrying out the repair wouldn’t provide this evidence.

• Communicate

A landlord has to properly communicate with a tenant to ensure they are fully aware of the processes involved in a disrepair. This includes what the status of the damp and mould issue is (emergency or non-emergency), what alternative accommodation requirements are, what the findings of an investigation are and when repairs will be carried out. This should also include informing tenants when there are any delays in this process.

• Introduce dedicated risk management

When investigating a damp and mould issue, a landlord is required to look beyond the basic fabric and infrastructure of the property and consider the individual tenant and what might be specifically affecting them. They need to factor in the age, mobility and underlying health conditions of the tenants living in a property when designing repairs and establishing what is an effective repair solution for those individuals. This demonstrates compliance by producing a risk assessment that shows the solution has been tailored to an individual, and is not just a standard off-the-shelf repair solution.

• Offer alternative accommodation

A landlord has to make arrangements to temporarily re-house tenants if they can’t carry out repairs to make a property safe within the specified timeframes. This accommodation has to be appropriate and suitable and must be at the landlord’s expense.

• Identify the root cause of a damp and mould issue

Making a ‘quick fix’ repair or a repair that results in the same issue reoccurring is not suitable compliance. The investigation that is carried out into a damp and mould issue in a property needs to be thorough and professional, and needs to identify the root cause of the problem. This is a robust process that aims to prevent cheap and short-term repairs which don’t address underlying problems.

Most damp and mould problems create multiple related issues, such as the health impacts of damp and mould itself, but also other possible consequences such as structural plasterwork, saturated brickwork, rotting wood joists, leaking pipes, faulty electrics, damaged exterior walls and damaged guttering or roof structures. One of these is likely to be the root cause of the issue, and it has had a compounding effect to cause multiple others, so repairing one of these in isolation is not effectively resolving the issue.

Therefore, compliance is about thoroughly investigating a problem so that repairs resolve the root cause of the issue and prevent it reoccurring.

• Proactively manage their properties

A landlord has to periodically inspect all the properties they are responsible for to identify the early signs of potential damp and mould issues, even if there have been no reports of an issue from the tenant. This requires landlords to understand what can cause damp and mould and how to take steps to prevent this developing. These inspections should also be documented to demonstrate compliance.

Looking beyond damp and mould

The current requirements around damp and mould represent the first phase of Awaab’s Law, but further reforms are expected to widen the scope of landlord responsibilities and introduce additional requirements around other housing hazards. This means landlords need to think beyond individual repairs and begin developing robust compliance processes that can adapt to future regulatory changes.

The direction of travel is clear. Landlords are increasingly expected to demonstrate not only that repairs have been completed, but also that issues have been identified, investigated, risk assessed, communicated and resolved within prescribed timescales. Documentation, audit trails and proactive property management are becoming just as important as the repairs themselves.

Awaab Comply helps landlords and housing providers prepare for both current and future compliance requirements by creating a structured framework for investigations, communications, risk management, inspections and record-keeping. As Awaab’s Law continues to evolve, having the right systems and processes in place will be essential for protecting tenants, demonstrating compliance and reducing organisational risk.