Awaab's Law: Private Sector Extension Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 paves the way to extend an Awaab's Law-style framework to the private rented sector in England. The government has committed to it, but the start date is still to be confirmed, so it is not in force for private renters yet. For the roughly 4.6 million private rented households in England, it would be one of the biggest changes to repair rights in a generation.

This article sets out what is changing, what is staying the same, and what private tenants should be doing now.

The background

Until October 2025, the precise timescales for repairs in social housing were left to each landlord's published policy and to case-by-case interpretation of "reasonable time". Awaab's Law put statutory timescales, including a 24-hour emergency category, onto a legal footing.

It was always understood that the same logic should apply to private tenancies. The government committed to extending Awaab's Law to the private rented sector through the Renters Rights Bill, which became the Renters' Rights Act 2025. The Act's tenancy reforms, including the end of Section 21 no-fault eviction, came into force on 1 May 2026. The repair-deadline extension for private renters is due later, on a timetable the government is still confirming.

What private tenants get

The headline provisions extending Awaab's Law to PRS are expected to include:

• Statutory timescales for investigating and addressing prescribed hazards in privately rented homes
• A 24-hour emergency response category for the most serious hazards
• A prescribed-hazard list likely to mirror the social-housing list, damp and mould, excess cold, fire safety, electrical hazards, gas, structural risk, asbestos, carbon monoxide
• A duty on the landlord to investigate in writing and to report findings to the tenant
• A duty to complete repairs inside the prescribed timescale, with potential remedies for breach

Combined with the existing protections, Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, private tenants will, for the first time, have a defined statutory clock against which to measure landlord performance.

What is also changing alongside

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 is a much wider piece of legislation than the PRS Awaab's Law extension. The package includes:

• Abolition of Section 21 no-fault evictions for new and existing private assured shorthold tenancies, converted to a new form of periodic assured tenancy
• A reformed possession framework with specified grounds replacing the no-fault route
• A statutory Decent Homes Standard for the PRS
• A national Private Rented Sector Database and a new statutory redress scheme
• Restrictions on rental bidding
• Strengthened rights to keep pets and to challenge above-market rent rises

Together, these reforms reshape the legal relationship between landlord and tenant in the private sector more fundamentally than any change since the Housing Act 1988.

What does not change

• The basic rule that the landlord must be on notice, tenants still need to report problems in writing for the clock to start.
• The need to document everything, photos, dates, written reports, references.
• The value of the landlord's own complaints process, an internal complaint first builds the audit trail. Where it fails, a disrepair claim is the route to compensation, call us free on 0800 030 4669.
• The 6-year limitation period for disrepair claims.
• The principle of compensation as a percentage of rent paid during the affected period plus general damages.

What private tenants should be doing now

1. Get into the habit of reporting in writing. Email or text, never just a phone call. Keep a copy.
2. Start a tenancy folder. Tenancy agreement, deposit certificate, gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC, every email about repairs.
3. Document any existing disrepair, dated photos, dated videos. If a hazard exists when the new timescales commence, you want a clean evidence trail.
4. Know the prescribed hazards. Damp and mould, excess cold, fire safety, electrical hazards, gas, structural risk, asbestos, carbon monoxide, these are likely to be the categories that trigger the new statutory timescales.
5. Do not assume immunity from eviction. Awaab's Law and the abolition of Section 21 are powerful, but landlords retain rights to possession on specified grounds (serious rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, selling, moving in, etc.). The combination of the two makes retaliatory eviction much harder, but does not make it impossible. See Can my landlord evict me for complaining?

How this fits with the social-housing regime

Since Awaab's Law began for social landlords in October 2025, social tenants have been better protected on repairs than private tenants. Once the extension to private renting comes into force, the floor across the whole rental market will be much closer to equal, though the social regulator (RSH) remains specific to social housing.

What landlords should be doing

This is a tenant-facing site, but the converse is worth saying briefly. Private landlords and letting agents preparing for the extension coming into force should be:

• Auditing existing stock for prescribed hazards
• Putting written repair-tracking systems in place
• Updating tenancy paperwork and customer-facing materials
• Building a relationship with reliable contractors who can hit the new statutory timescales

Once the extension is in force, the cost of getting this wrong will be a named statutory breach, not a general one.

What to do if your private landlord is failing once the new regime is in force

The route will mirror the social-housing route:

1. Report in writing.
2. State you regard the hazard as a prescribed hazard under the Awaab's Law extension.
3. Use the landlord's formal complaints process to build the audit trail.
4. Consider a housing disrepair claim if statutory timescales are missed. You may have a claim, call us free on 0800 030 4669.

The basic principles of evidence, notice and reasonable time apply just as they always have, they now sit inside a tighter statutory framework.

Get help

If you are a private tenant dealing with damp, mould, no heating, no hot water or other serious disrepair, 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.

Free alternative: Your local authority environmental health team can serve improvement notices on private landlords at no cost to you.

Sources: Renters' reform in England: what's happening and when, House of Commons Library; Awaab's Law, National Housing Federation.

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