Awaab's Law gives social landlords 24 hours to investigate and make safe an emergency hazard. That has put real pressure on out-of-hours repair teams. Here is what tenants should expect.
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In short
Since Awaab's Law arrived on 27 October 2025, social landlords have had just 24 hours to investigate and make safe an emergency hazard. The government's own guidance says meeting it takes pre-arranged round-the-clock contractor cover, and that has squeezed out-of-hours repair teams hard. For tenants the effect is mostly good: emergencies get attended faster. But "attended" is not "fixed", and that gap matters for any future claim.
What the pressure looks like
The 24-hour deadline under Section 10A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 spiked contractor workloads. In practice:
- Out-of-hours capacity is the bottleneck at most large landlords, and many ran short even before the law.
- Some landlords stamp every report "emergency" to be safe, flooding the priority queue and pushing real significant hazards down the list.
- Others stamp hazards "significant" instead, buying 10 working days rather than 24 hours. The rules allow the decision; it can still be challenged.
- A few use the alternative-accommodation duty as a release valve: a home that cannot be made safe in 24 hours means the landlord must offer somewhere else.
The two-tier reality on the ground
Six months in, the picture is a two-tier one.
Investigations happen faster. Across the larger landlords, the 10-working-day window for significant hazards is met in most cases. The procedural half, get someone out, confirm it in writing, mostly works.
Completion still lags. A contractor on site inside 10 working days is one thing; works finished inside 5 working days of the investigation ending is another. Materials lead times, planning permission and contractor diaries all push completion past the legal window.
Independent rulings in the first six months point straight at this gap. Severe-failing findings have landed on landlords who met the investigation deadline and missed completion by weeks.
What this means for tenants reporting hazards now
Three practical things.
1. Use the rules' own words. "Emergency hazard": 24 hours to investigate. "Significant hazard": 10 working days to investigate, a written summary within 3 working days, works completed within 5 working days. Writing "emergency hazard" in your report forces a written categorisation decision.
2. Ask for the written summary. Section 10A requires it. An investigation with no summary inside 3 working days is a breach, and useful evidence.
3. Track the completion deadline separately. Investigation and completion run on different clocks. Most landlords meet the first; many miss the second. The completion miss is often what wins the finding.
How enforcement is tightening
Since the law came in, enforcement has moved one way:
- Complaints citing a missed Awaab's Law deadline get taken more seriously
- A missed legal deadline counts as a named breach, not vague "unreasonable delay"
- Failing landlords can be named in published decisions
A tenant ignored for months stands on firmer ground now than before the law. If your landlord missed an Awaab's Law deadline, you may have a claim. Call us free on 0800 030 4669.
The 2026 phase: more hazards in scope
Phase 2 arrives in late 2026, adding these hazards:
- Excess cold, including winter heating breakdowns
- Excess heat
- Fire safety
- Hygiene hazards: live pest infestations, piled-up waste
- Structural collapse
After Phase 2, a live rat infestation, a boiler dead all winter, or an unsafe staircase triggers the same legal deadlines that today cover only damp, mould and emergencies.
Where Support for Tenants fits
We help tenants whose Awaab's Law deadline was missed, or whose hazard got "investigated" while the works never came. If your case fits, we refer to a panel solicitor no-win-no-fee. No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.
A landlord still inside the deadlines? Wait, and document everything. Once a deadline slips, your case grows stronger.
Read the full Awaab's Law explainer | Free call: 0800 030 4669
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 23 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only, not a promise; every case is different.
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