High-Rise Window Safety: What Recent Child Deaths Mean for Landlord Responsibility

Direct answer

Window-safety failures in social housing flats are now a named regulatory priority. After two children died in 2024 falling from upper-floor windows, landlords are expected to risk-assess every high-rise window, install restrictors where required, and never leave a boarded-up window in place for more than a short period. If your social landlord has ignored a reported window-safety issue, the breach itself strengthens any later disrepair claim.

Two cases that changed the conversation

In May 2024, a five-year-old boy fell to his death from the 15th floor of a tower block in Plaistow, east London. His mother had reportedly complained to the council at least five times about the window latch. About a week later, a second child died in similar circumstances at another London block. National media reported both cases, alongside a wider pattern: persistent delays repairing window restrictors, sash mechanisms left jammed open, and whole windows boarded up for months at a time without proper replacement.

Window safety has since been put on the named-priority list for enforcement. That matters because it changes the way future cases are approached: a landlord that misses an obvious window-safety risk is now flagged for severe-failing findings, not low-grade service failure.

What the law already requires

Window safety in social housing sits across several legal duties. None of these are new. What is new is that landlords are now being held to them more visibly.

• Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords to keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair. Windows are explicitly part of the structure under Section 11(1)(a).
• The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires the home to be fit to live in. A window that cannot close, has a broken restrictor, or has been replaced with plywood is not "fit".
• Awaab's Law (Section 10A LTA 1985, in force 27 October 2025) treats a hazard with a significant and imminent risk of harm as an emergency. A faulty upper-floor window with a child in the household meets that test. The landlord has 24 hours to investigate.
• The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) lists falls from windows as one of the 29 named categories. Landlords are required to assess and reduce HHSRS hazards.

In short: the legal scaffolding has been there for years. The change is that it is now being enforced harder, and the regulator is paying attention.

What tenants should check today

If you live in a flat above ground level, especially with children in the household, here are the questions worth asking.

1. Do every upstairs window in your flat have a working restrictor? A restrictor is the small metal arm or cable that stops a window opening more than around 100mm. Test each one. If it has been removed or is broken, report it in writing.
2. Are any windows currently boarded up? Plywood is a short-term fix, not a permanent solution. If a window has been boarded for more than six weeks without a clear repair date, that is a reportable concern.
3. Are the locks on your windows working? Particularly relevant in lower flats where children could climb out, and in shared-balcony layouts.
4. Did the landlord do a window safety check at the start of your tenancy? They should have, especially in any block above three storeys.

Report any of the above in writing (email or your landlord's online portal). Keep a dated copy of every message you send.

If your landlord ignores you

Under Awaab's Law, a clear and present window-safety risk in a high-rise should be treated as an emergency hazard. That means the landlord must investigate within 24 hours, and if the home cannot be made safe in that time, they must offer you alternative accommodation.

If you have reported the issue and the landlord has not responded inside 24 hours, the breach itself is now meaningful evidence. The route forward is:

1. Send a final written reminder stating the date of your first report, the date of any subsequent reports, and that you are giving notice under Awaab's Law of an unresolved emergency hazard.
2. If they still do not act, get advice on a claim. Where a landlord ignores a reported window-safety hazard, you may have a claim, call us free on 0800 030 4669.
3. If a fall has already happened, or your child has been injured in any window-related incident, take photographs, keep medical records, and seek legal advice quickly. Limitation periods apply.

Where Support for Tenants fits

We are a Claims Management Company authorised by the FCA. If your case has crossed the line from a complaint into a disrepair claim, we can refer you to a panel solicitor on a no-win-no-fee basis. On no win, no fee terms you pay nothing up front, and the solicitor's fee only comes out of your compensation if you win, never out of your own pocket. We will give you an honest assessment of whether your case is right for a legal claim.

Read about Awaab's Law | Free call: 0800 030 4669

Sources: Schoolboy, 5, dies after falling from a Plaistow tower block, GB News (2024); second child dies after falling from a top-floor London flat about a week later, GB News (2024).

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.