Is your organisation ready for Awaab’s Law? Awaab’s Law preparation checklist for social landlords

1. Review your policies and procedures 

• Update repairs and maintenance policies to reflect Awaab’s Law requirements Define what constitutes an emergency, significant and routine hazard 
• Establish clear investigation, escalation and approval processes 
• Create procedures for temporary accommodation where a property becomes unsafe 
• Ensure complaint handling processes align with regulatory expectations 

2. Understand your housing stock 

• Identify properties with a history of damp, mould or recurring repairs 
• Map high-risk properties and vulnerable households 
• Complete condition surveys where information is outdated 
• Prioritise preventative maintenance and remediation works 
• Ensure property data is accurate, accessible and regularly updated 

Proactive knowledge of homes and residents is essential for reducing risk and responding quickly when issues arise. 

3. Strengthen resident engagement 

• Make it easy for residents to report hazards through multiple channels 
• Clearly communicate expected response times 
• Provide regular updates throughout investigations and repairs 
• Ensure staff understand how to identify vulnerabilities and health impacts 
• Encourage early reporting of damp, mould and other hazards 

Residents should feel heard, informed and confident that concerns are being addressed. 

4. Equip teams with the right skills 

• Train housing officers, repairs teams and customer services staff on Awaab’s Law requirements 
• Develop guidance on identifying hazards and addressing severity 
• Ensure teams understand escalation processes and statutory deadlines 
• Build awareness of resident vulnerability assessments 
• Provide refresher training and ongoing compliance updates 

5. Improve repairs and contractor management 

• Review contractor capacity against anticipated demand 
• Introduce clear service level agreements (SLAs) 
• Ensure contractors understand reporting and compliance obligations 
• Implement escalation routes for urgent cases 
• Monitor contractor performance against response times 

Meeting deadlines depend on having the right resources and processes in place across internal and external teams. 

6. Create a clear audit trail 

• Record all resident reports and communications 
• Capture inspection findings digitally 
• Store evidence including photographs, reports and repair records 
• Maintain a complete timeline of actions taken 
• Ensure information can be easily retrieved for audits, complaints or investigations 

The ability to evidence compliance will be just as important as completing the work itself. 

7. Use technology to stay ahead 

• Ensure housing, repairs and asset systems are connected 
• Automate workflow management and deadline tracking 
• Use dashboards to monitor high-risk cases 
• Enable mobile working for inspections and repairs 
• Explore predictive analytics and environmental monitoring where appropriate 

Technology can help organisations move from a reactive approach to a proactive one, identifying risks before they become serious hazards. 

8. Monitor performance and governance 

• Assign executive ownership for Awaab’s Law compliance 
• Include Awaab’s Law within organisational risk registers 
• Regularly report performance to leadership and governing boards 
• Monitor compliance against statutory timescales 
• Use insights from complaints and repairs data to drive continuous improvement 

9. Prepare for future regulatory challenges 

• Review readiness for wider Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards 
• Build scalable processes that can adapt to future phases of Awaab’s Law 
• Maintain a focus on prevention, not just compliance 
• Use assets, repairs and resident data to identify emerging risks 

The scope of Awaab’s Law is expanding beyond damp and mould, making long-term planning essential. 

Are you Awaab’s Law ready? 

Preparing for Awaab’s Law isn’t just about meeting deadlines. It’s about giving residents confidence that their homes are safe, their concerns will be acted upon, and every issue can be tracked from report to resolution. 

With the right combination of housing management software, asset management, repairs management, resident engagement tools, AI and predictive analytics, social landlords can improve compliance, strengthen accountability and deliver better outcomes for residents.