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

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 paves the way for Awaab's Law-style repair deadlines in private renting in England. The government is committed. But no start date is confirmed, so it does not bind private landlords yet. For England's roughly 4.6 million private rented households, it would be the biggest change to repair rights in a generation.

Here is what changes, what stays the same, and what to do now.

The background

Until October 2025, social repair timescales lived in each landlord's own policy, and in rows over "reasonable time". Awaab's Law changed that. Fixed legal deadlines arrived, with a 24-hour emergency category.

The same logic was always meant for private homes. The government promised the extension through the Renters' Rights Bill, now the 2025 Act. The Act's tenancy reforms, the end of Section 21 included, started on 1 May 2026. The repair deadlines come later, on a timetable still being confirmed.

What private tenants get

The extension is expected to bring:

• Fixed legal timescales for looking into and dealing with listed hazards
• A 24-hour emergency category for the worst hazards
• A hazard list likely to mirror social housing's: damp and mould, excess cold, fire safety, electrical hazards, gas, structural risk, asbestos, carbon monoxide
• A duty to investigate in writing and report the findings to the tenant
• A duty to finish the repairs inside the legal time, with remedies if not

Add the protections already in place, Section 11 and the fitness Act of 2018, and private tenants will hold a fixed legal clock against their landlord for the first time.

What is also changing alongside

The Act goes far past the Awaab's Law extension. The package brings:

• The end of Section 21 no-fault eviction, with tenancies becoming a new form of periodic assured tenancy
• A reworked possession framework: set grounds replace the no-fault route
• A legal Decent Homes Standard for private renting
• A national private renting database and a new redress scheme
• Limits on rental bidding
• Stronger rights to keep pets and to fight above-market rent rises

Together the reforms reshape landlord and tenant more deeply than anything since the Housing Act 1988.

What does not change

• The landlord still has to be told. Report in writing, or the clock never starts.
• Everything still needs documenting: photos, dates, written reports, reference numbers.
• The complaints process still matters. An internal complaint builds the paper trail. Where it fails, a disrepair claim brings compensation. Call us free on 0800 030 4669.
• The 6-year time limit for claims.
• How compensation works: a share of the rent paid in the affected period, plus general damages.

What private tenants should be doing now

1. Report in writing, every time. Email or text, never phone alone. Keep a copy.
2. Start a tenancy folder: agreement, deposit certificate, gas certificate, EICR, EPC, every repair email.
3. Document existing disrepair with dated photos and videos. A hazard alive when the new deadlines start deserves a clean trail already in place.
4. Know the hazard list: damp and mould, excess cold, fire safety, electrics, gas, structural risk, asbestos, carbon monoxide. These will likely start the new clocks.
5. Never assume you cannot be evicted. Landlords keep possession rights on set grounds: serious arrears, antisocial behaviour, selling, moving in. Revenge eviction got much harder, not impossible. See Can my landlord evict me for complaining?

How this fits with the social-housing regime

Since October 2025, social tenants have held stronger repair rights than private ones. Once the extension lands, the floor across the whole market comes much closer to level. The social regulator stays social-only.

What landlords should be doing

This is a tenant site, but the other side deserves a short note. Landlords and agents preparing should be:

• Checking their homes for the listed hazards
• Setting up written repair-tracking systems
• Updating tenancy paperwork and tenant-facing materials
• Lining up reliable contractors who can hit the new deadlines

Once the extension is live, getting this wrong becomes a named breach of the law, 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 one:

1. Report in writing.
2. Say you regard the hazard as a listed hazard under the Awaab's Law extension.
3. Use the landlord's formal complaints process to build the paper trail.
4. Consider a housing disrepair claim if the legal deadlines are missed. You may have a claim. Call us free on 0800 030 4669.

Evidence, notice and fair time work as they always did. They just sit inside a tighter legal frame now.

Get help

A private tenant facing 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 no-win-no-fee.

Free alternative: the council's 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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