Awaab's Law phase 2: the seven hazards added on 30 November 2026

From 30 November 2026, Awaab's Law stops being a damp and mould duty. Phase 2 extends the statutory investigation and repair timescales to seven further categories of housing hazard — and in doing so turns what many providers built as a damp response process into something that has to cover most of what goes wrong in a home.

The seven categories

Phase 2 adds the following, where they present a significant risk of harm:

• Excess cold
• Excess heat
• Falls — on the level, on stairs, and between levels
• Structural collapse
• Fire and explosions
• Electrical hazards
• Domestic hygiene — personal hygiene and food safety

The timescales

A significant hazard is one posing a significant risk of harm to the health or safety of an occupier. The guidance frames the test by reference to what a reasonable lessor with the relevant knowledge would make safe within 15 working days.

Why this is harder than phase 1

Phase 1 was tractable because damp and mould reports arrive labelled. A resident reporting mould uses the word. The seven new categories mostly do not arrive labelled — they arrive as a description of a symptom, in a resident's own words, through whichever channel they happened to use.

"The hallway light keeps tripping" is an electrical hazard report. "The back step is loose" is a falls report. "It has been freezing since the boiler was fixed" is an excess cold report. None of them will be tagged as hazards by the person making them, and the ten-working-day clock starts from when you became aware — not from when someone categorised it correctly.

The practical consequence is that triage moves to the front of the process. From 30 November, the risk is not primarily failing to fix things in time. It is failing to recognise that a clock started at all.

What phase 2 requires of your records

1. A timestamp for every resident contact that could describe a relevant hazard, across every channel — including the ones that are not the repairs line.
2. A triage decision, recorded, that either starts a clock or explains why it did not.
3. An investigation outcome captured in a form that can become a written summary within three working days.
4. The works trail, against the correct clock for the hazard class.
5. The whole chain retrievable per property, because that is the unit an Ombudsman determination works in.

And then phase 3

The phase 2 guidance confirms the direction: "In phase 3, we will extend regulations to all remaining HHSRS hazards (apart from overcrowding) where they present a significant risk of harm." It does not give a date. A number of published timelines assert 2027 — that appears to be inference rather than announced policy, and we have not found it in any instrument. Plan for the direction; do not build a plan that depends on the year.

Common questions