Awaab’s Law: 71% of Social Housing Complaints Upheld

The social housing sector is under ever-increasing scrutiny following the implementation of Awaab’s Law, which came into effect at the end of October 2025.

Awaab’s Law requires social housing landlords to fix dangerous, damp, and mouldy conditions within set timeframes and to complete emergency repairs within 24 hours. 

Ahead of the October 2025 deadline, the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS), an independent public body responsible for resolving tenant and landlord disputes, raised concerns over rising complaints. According to its Annual Complaints Review 2024–25, 71% of all cases were upheld in the resident’s favour, including rising complaints over damp and mould.

What is Awaab’s Law?

Awaab's Law is a new piece of legislation passed in 2023 as part of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. It aims to protect social housing tenants against unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

The Law is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died as a result of mould exposure from his home in Rochdale in 2020, despite a series of complaints by his parents to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH). His death was ultimately preventable, and now landlords are under increasing social and legal pressure to ensure this doesn’t happen to their tenants.

Awaab’s Law will be gradually phased in over the two years following October 2025, with the following milestones:

• October 2025: Landlords must address damp and mould hazards in a fixed timescale and perform emergency repairs – including those linked to damp and mould - within 24 hours.
• 2026: Initial requirements will be extended to include other serious hazards, such as excess cold and heat, structural issues, fire, electrical problems, and hygiene hazards.
• 2027: The Law will be extended to include all remaining hazards defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), excluding overcrowding.

Findings highlighting significant service failures and a major lack of preparedness across the sector show that social housing landlords are increasingly running out of time to prepare for this month's changes.

The Housing Ombudsman’s report

HOS painted a worrying picture of landlord inaction ahead of the introduction of Awaab's Law last year. According to the review, 120 landlords had a maladministration rate of over 75%. It was found that local authorities and housing associations with between 1,000 and 10,000 homes are particularly struggling to respond to complaints within a suitable timeframe.

In one example, a London-based household lived in bags covering a hole in their ceiling for two years, while another resident lived for three years without heating or hot water. 

The Ombudsman found a rise in damp and mould complaints, with more than 40% of compensation paid to tenants for failures in handling leaks, damp, and mould.

Such inhabitable living spaces are in breach of The Social Housing (Regulation) Act, passed in 2023, which increased regulations on social landlords designed to protect tenants from serious harm due to disrepair and home hazards, such as mould and damp, water damage, and structural defects.

A call for improvement

Housing Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, made a call for landlords to learn from complaints to improve ahead of increasing regulations:

“The advent of Awaab’s Law, a reformed Decent Homes Standard, and the Regulator’s Competence and Conduct Standard could transform housing management over the next decade.

“To ensure the success of these measures, landlords must continue to learn from complaints for the benefit of this and future generations.”

How Premier Legal Assist can support you

If you’ve reported disrepair to your landlord and nothing has been done, you may be entitled to take action.

You can complain to the Housing Ombudsman or contact Premier Legal Assist for support. If your case is eligible, we'll connect you with specialist no-win, no-fee housing disrepair solicitors who deal with social landlord cases on behalf of tenants.

To check if you're eligible, fill in our quick online form or message us on WhatsApp, and one of our team will get back to you for an initial consultation.