Awaab’s Law went live on 27 October 2025, and it has changed the way housing associations deal with damp and mould.

The legislation was named after Awaab Ishak who tragically died in 2020 due to health conditions linked to significant black mould in his home. His family, and other visitors had repeatedly reported the issues to his landlord.

Awaab’s Law introduced stricter timescales for housing associations to resolve damp and mould issues in customer homes; improving customers’ health and helping keep homes safe and healthy.

How we prepared for Awaab’s Law

Before Awaab’s Law went live, we reviewed our systems and processes to make sure they’d meet the new legislation. As part of this work, we:

• updated our damp and mould procedure and customer communications
• improved our IT systems to manage cases from first report to completion
• strengthened case tracking and performance monitoring
• introduced clear escalation routes for higher-risk cases
• provided training for surveyors, repairs teams and customer-facing colleagues
• improved collaboration between teams
• introduced weekly contractor reviews, such as with our contractors Equans, to monitor progress and resolve delays.

Since Awaab’s Law was introduced, we’ve strengthened our escalation process to help progress damp and mould cases where we’ve been unable to access a customer’s home at the agreed time or where another issue has delayed the work. We continue to contact customers and work with them to arrange access as soon as possible.

Our approach

We’re committed to resolving damp and mould issues and preventing the issues reoccurring. This means we don’t just treat the mould; we address the underlying causes by:

• carrying out a survey to understand the root cause, rather than just treating the symptoms
• reviewing repeat repairs and inspections through monthly damp and mould case reviews
• investing in permanent repairs, where appropriate
• improving ventilation
• improving insulation and resolving defects with the building itself
• using trend analysis to help prevent future issues.

The impact of Awaab’s Law so far

The introduction of Awaab’s Law has been positive in helping us better track and resolve damp and mould issues in customer homes.

Because we now have to meet stricter timescales, when customers report damp and mould to us, we carry out faster inspections which lead to quicker repairs, and healthier, safer homes. We also consider the findings from an inspection, alongside individual customer needs so we can resolve damp and mould issues in a way that works best for each customer.

What’s next?

We’ll continue to monitor and review our performance around resolving damp and mould issues, refining our processes as needed.

Phase 2 of Awaab’s Law will be going live on 30 November 2026 – this will focus on excess cold, excess heat and falls. We’ll continue to provide ongoing training for staff around the current phase of Awaab’s Law but will also be preparing for the next update in legislation – we’ll share more about this with customers soon.

We’ll also continue investing in customer homes to keep them safe and healthy through planned improvements, adaptations and proactive maintenance.

How to report damp and mould

We encourage all customers to Get in Touch with us as soon as possible if there’s a problem in their home or a damp and mould issue.