Awaab's Law: Six Months In, Named Landlords and What We Have Learned

Six months after Awaab's Law came into force on 27 October 2025, the picture is sharper than at three months. Independent rulings now form a body of decisions applying the legal timescales. The Regulator of Social Housing has cited Awaab's Law failings in several recent judgements. And a clear pattern is emerging: which landlords get it right, which struggle, and what it costs to miss a deadline.

What the first six months have revealed

Investigations happen faster. Across the larger landlords, the 10-working-day investigation window for significant hazards is being met in most cases. The procedural half of Awaab's Law, get someone out and confirm it in writing, mostly works.

The 24-hour emergency category is the pinch point. Landlords struggle most with the duty to make an emergency hazard safe inside 24 hours, not just attend it. Out-of-hours contractors, materials and competing demand all bite. Independent rulings find severe failings most readily where the 24-hour category was missed.

Sensors are reshaping early detection. Several large housing associations now run humidity-sensor programmes. The sensors flag damp risk before the tenant complains, so the landlord can be on notice before the household has even drafted a Stage 1 complaint. That is a structural shift in how the regime works.

Vulnerability flags stay patchy. Six months in, this is still the biggest gap between landlords. Some run solid vulnerability registers that feed straight into repair priority. Others still do not.

Named landlords and recent judgements

The Regulator of Social Housing keeps grading landlords and issuing notices. Among the most serious recent ones:

• Anchor Hanover, G3/C3 (June 2025, before Awaab's Law commenced), for widespread electrical-safety and complaints failings affecting older tenants. See our Anchor Hanover analysis.
• Newham Council, still under the first-ever C4 grade, issued October 2024. Its improvement plan covers many of the same hazards Awaab's Law targets. See our Newham C4 explainer.
• Notting Hill Genesis, G3 governance grade (November 2024), for board oversight of health and safety. A compliance plan is in place. See our NHG explainer.

Independent reviews covering 2024 to 2025 recorded a sharp rise in severe-failing findings, with poor property condition dominating the casework.

What this means for tenant cases

A pattern is now clear in cases brought since Awaab's Law:

1. Cases with the original report in writing, dated and referenced, settle faster. Nobody can dispute when the clock started.
2. Cases where vulnerability was flagged in the original report tend to bring higher general damages than cases where it surfaced later.
3. Cases where the landlord missed the 24-hour emergency window now draw rulings and offers that name Awaab's Law as the breach, not just a general failing.
4. Cases where only the 10-working-day investigation window was missed, with the 5-working-day works window met, settle lower than cases where both were missed. Proportionality is working.

The compensation framing has not changed much: awards still start from a share of the rent for the affected period, rising with documented health harm and, now, a named legal breach to point to. See how much compensation for damp and mould.

What has not improved

Repairs still lag inspections. Investigating inside 10 working days is easier than finishing the works inside the 5-working-day window after the investigation ends, with the written summary due to the tenant inside 3 working days.

Smaller landlords are straining. The big national landlords have largely re-tooled. Mid-size local landlords, especially some smaller council teams, are still catching up, and their tenants see slower change.

Awaab's Law still covers social housing only. The government intends to extend it to private renting through the Renters' Rights Act 2025, on a timetable still to be confirmed. See Awaab's Law: private sector extension.

What to do if you are stuck

1. Get the original report date in writing. It is the most important sentence in any case.
2. State that you regard the hazard as a prescribed hazard under Awaab's Law. Be explicit.
3. Flag vulnerability at once: children, age, medical conditions.
4. Stage 1, then Stage 2 of the formal complaints procedure.
5. Get advice quickly if timescales slip. You may have a claim. Call us free on 0800 030 4669.

See our emergency repair guide for the timescale framework.

The next milestone

The next stock-take is the one-year mark in October 2026. We will track both Awaab's Law and the planned private-renting extension. See Awaab's Law: the first months and what the one-year mark will test.

Get help

If your social landlord missed an Awaab's Law timescale, call Support for Tenants on 0800 030 4669 for a free assessment. We are a regulated company, not a law firm. We connect tenants with solicitors who run housing disrepair cases on a no-win-no-fee basis.

Sources: Regulator of Social Housing regulatory judgements and notices, GOV.UK; Awaab's Law: guidance for social landlords, GOV.UK.

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