Awaab's Law deadline calculator
Since 27 October 2025, social landlords in England have had a legal clock running from the moment you report damp or mould. Put in the date you reported it and this works out every date they have to hit, counting working days and bank holidays the way the Regulations do.
The date your landlord became aware, not the date the problem started.
Leave this blank and the later deadlines are calculated from the last day the landlord was allowed to investigate. Fill it in once you know the real date and the rest of the clock moves with it.
Put in the date you reported it to see every deadline your landlord has to meet.
Awaab's Law applies to social landlords in England: councils and housing associations. If you rent privately, the deadlines above do not bind your landlord, but the compensation route is still open to you under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.
What this is based on
- The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, in force since 27 October 2025.
- Working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and England and Wales bank holidays, taken from gov.uk and held to the end of 2027.
- The 24-hour emergency clocks run in real hours, so weekends and bank holidays do not pause them.
- Where you have not entered an investigation date, the later deadlines run from the last day the landlord was permitted to investigate. Real dates will be earlier if the landlord moved faster than the deadline required.
- The 12-week longstop is counted as 84 calendar days from the investigation concluding.
Figures reviewed 17 August 2026.
The deadlines, in plain terms
Awaab Ishak was two years old when he died in December 2020. The coroner found the cause was prolonged exposure to mould in the flat his family rented in Rochdale, and issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report in November 2022 after hearing how long the family had been raising the problem. The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 gave ministers the power to set binding repair timescales, and the 2025 Regulations are the result.
The part that gives them teeth is that the requirements are written into every social tenancy as an implied contract term. A tenant can take a landlord to court for breach of contract, and any clause in a tenancy agreement that tries to sidestep the law has no effect.
Everything then hangs on how the hazard is classified, because there are two clocks.
Emergency hazards
Anything posing an imminent and significant risk to health or safety. Damp and mould can qualify, and is more likely to where the affected room is one somebody sleeps in and the household includes a baby, an elderly person or someone with a respiratory condition.
- Investigate within 24 hours of becoming aware.
- Complete the safety work within the same 24 hours of becoming aware. The investigation and the safety work share a single 24-hour emergency action period.
- Provide suitable alternative accommodation, at the landlord's cost, if the home cannot be made safe inside that 24 hours.
- Give you a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation finishing, unless all the work was done inside those 3 days.
Significant hazards
Where most damp and mould reports land. A real risk of harm, but not an immediate one.
- Investigate within 10 working days of becoming aware.
- Send a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation concluding.
- Complete the work needed to make the home safe within 5 working days of the investigation concluding.
- Offer suitable alternative accommodation if that safety work cannot be finished in those 5 working days.
- Begin the further work that stops the problem returning within 5 working days, or if that genuinely is not possible, take steps to get it started as soon as practicable and no later than 12 weeks.
The decant duty catches people out. Alternative accommodation is not only an emergency measure. If a significant hazard cannot be made safe inside the 5 working days, the duty to offer somewhere else to stay applies as well.
Making safe is not the same as fixing it
The Regulations separate two jobs, and landlords who only do the first have not complied.
Relevant safety work is whatever removes the immediate risk: treating the mould, getting the room dry. Supplementary preventative works deal with why it happened. The failed extractor fan. The leaking gutter. The cold bridge. The missing insulation. The blocked airbrick someone rendered over in 1994.
Both are required, and the second one is the one that decides whether you are having this conversation again next November. A landlord who wipes the walls down, repaints, and leaves the cause alone has not met the standard, and the mould will be back by the following winter. If you want to see what a job done properly involves and what it costs, the mould removal cost calculator sets out the containment, filtration and disposal steps that separate remediation from redecoration.
Landlords are also expected to use what they already know about your household. If your file records a child with asthma or a pregnancy, that information should feed into how the hazard is classified, without you having to argue for it.
What to do when a deadline is missed
The dates this tool gives you are only useful if you can prove them, so start with the paperwork and work up.
- Put everything in writing. Report in writing, or follow up a phone call with an email saying what you reported and when, so the date the landlord became aware is not in dispute later. Keep dated photographs of the same wall over time.
- Use the landlord's complaints process. You normally have to exhaust this before the Ombudsman will look at your case. The Complaint Handling Code has been statutory since April 2024, so a landlord that ignores its own procedure is compounding the problem.
- Go to the Housing Ombudsman. Free, no solicitor needed, and it can order compensation as well as remedial action.
- Consider court action. Because Awaab's Law is an implied term of your tenancy, missing the deadlines is a breach of contract. Get advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice first, and see the damp and mould compensation calculator for what a claim is likely to be worth.
- Report the landlord to the Regulator of Social Housing if this looks like a pattern rather than a one-off.
A landlord does have a defence if it can show it took all reasonable steps to comply, which usually turns on records of appointments offered and access attempted. That cuts both ways. If you have been missing appointments, expect it to be raised, so reply to every appointment offer in writing even when you have to turn one down.
What changes on 30 November 2026
Phase 1, running now, covers all emergency hazards plus damp and mould posing a significant risk of harm. Phase 2 comes into force on 30 November 2026 and widens the same deadline structure to excess cold and excess heat, falls, structural collapse and explosions, fire and electrical hazards, and hygiene and food safety hazards. A third phase is expected to bring in the remaining hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
For housing teams, the awareness tier is the one most organisations underestimate. The clock starts when anyone in the organisation is told, which means the contact centre and tenancy staff taking the first call are the ones who determine whether a deadline is met or missed. The UK Academy of Mould Experts runs certified Awaab's Law training built around exactly these timeframes, split into awareness for frontline staff, practitioner for surveyors and technical officers carrying out the investigation, and a leadership briefing for boards carrying the governance risk.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not covered. These Regulations apply in England, and the other three nations run their own housing standards regimes.
Where to read the source
Awaab's Law: common questions
What are the Awaab's Law timescales?
For a significant hazard, the landlord must investigate within 10 working days of becoming aware, send a written summary of the findings within 3 working days of the investigation concluding, complete the work needed to make the home safe within 5 working days of it concluding, and begin the further work that stops the problem returning within 5 working days, or as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 12 weeks. For an emergency hazard, the investigation and the safety work must both happen within 24 hours.
When did Awaab's Law come into force?
27 October 2025, through the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025. Phase 1 covers all emergency hazards plus damp and mould posing a significant risk of harm. Phase 2 arrives on 30 November 2026 and extends the same deadline structure to excess cold and heat, falls, structural collapse, fire and electrical hazards, and hygiene and food safety hazards.
Does Awaab's Law apply to private landlords?
Not currently. The Regulations apply to social landlords in England, meaning councils and housing associations. The government has said it intends to extend equivalent protections to the private rented sector using powers in the Renters' Rights Act 2025, but that needs separate regulations and no date has been set. Private tenants still have the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 and can ask their council's environmental health team to inspect.
What counts as the date my landlord became aware?
The date they were told, or the date they ought reasonably to have known. A phone call counts, but it is much harder to prove months later, which is why every piece of advice starts with putting it in writing. If a surveyor spotted it during an unrelated visit, or a gas engineer logged it, that is also awareness even if you never reported it yourself.
What happens if my landlord misses the deadline?
The requirements are written into every social tenancy as an implied contract term, so a missed deadline is a breach of contract you can take to court. Any clause in a tenancy agreement that tries to sidestep the law has no effect. In practice most tenants go through the landlord's complaints process first, then the Housing Ombudsman, which can order compensation and remedial action. Persistent failures can also be reported to the Regulator of Social Housing.
My landlord says it is my fault for drying washing indoors. Can they refuse to act?
No. The government guidance is direct about this: cooking, showering and drying clothes indoors are normal parts of living in a home and are not a reason to refuse to act. If a property cannot cope with ordinary use without growing mould, that is a problem with the property.
Does a phone call from a surveyor count as an investigation?
A remote assessment is allowed, but if you ask for someone to attend in person after a remote investigation, the landlord has to carry out a fresh in-person investigation. For a significant hazard that means within 10 working days, and the clock restarts from the date of your request.
Do weekends count in the 24-hour emergency deadline?
Yes. The emergency clock runs in real hours, not working days, so a Friday evening report means a Saturday evening deadline. Only the significant hazard deadlines are counted in working days, which exclude weekends and bank holidays.