Awaab's Law and fire hazards: repair deadlines for social homes from November 2026

Awaab's Law is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died in 2020 after long exposure to mould in his family's social home. The regulations came into force on 27 October 2025, and they write a term into every social tenancy: hazards must be dealt with to fixed timeframes. A tenant can take the landlord to court, or complain to the Housing Ombudsman.

Phase 1 covered damp and mould, and every emergency hazard. Phase 2, from 30 November 2026, adds fire and explosions, along with cold, heat, falls, structural collapse, electrical hazards and hygiene.

It covers almost all social housing let on a tenancy by a registered provider: councils and housing associations, including temporary and supported housing let on a tenancy. It does not cover homes occupied under a licence, long leaseholds or shared ownership. Private landlords are not covered yet, but the government is consulting on extending it to private renting until 18 December 2026.

The fire hazard covers uncontrolled fire, smoke and fumes inside the home, and explosions, for example from a failing boiler. The government expects most fire reports to be emergencies. Its examples are smoke or fire alarms in the home that are missing, faulty or failing, and escape routes or exits that can't be used because of a defect.

Then there are uncontrolled ignition sources, like sparking switches and sockets, or overloaded appliances. A risk of gas explosion is always an emergency.

There are two clocks. For an emergency hazard, investigate and make the home safe within 24 hours, from the moment you become aware. For a significant hazard, investigate within 10 working days.

Once the investigation ends, give the tenant a written summary within 3 working days, and complete the safety work within 5 working days. Work to stop it coming back must start within those 5 working days, or as soon as reasonably practicable and within 12 weeks. If you can't make the home safe in time, you must provide suitable alternative accommodation, at no cost to the tenant.

Here is the government's own example. A routine inspection finds no working smoke alarm in a flat where a couple live with two young children. With no early warning, especially at night, the risk to life is high, and the guidance says this would likely be an emergency whoever lived there.

So it is made safe within 24 hours. Separately, the smoke alarm regulations already require at least one smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation.

Awaab's Law stops at the front door of the flat. Fire hazards in the common parts of a block, like damaged fire doors, blocked escape routes or gaps in compartmentation, stay with the responsible person under the Fire Safety Order. Those are enforced by the fire and rescue authority.

It also leaves out hazards that aren't defects in the building, like an e-scooter stored in a flat. And it doesn't cover sprinklers the fire risk assessment says aren't needed, or cladding work, though the other duties still apply.

To get ready, triage every fire report against the guidance, and keep what you know about each household up to date. Limited mobility, sensory impairments, learning difficulties and age over 60 can all raise the risk. Use competent people to investigate.

Check that repairs don't create new fire risks: improving ventilation must not break compartmentation. And keep a record of every step, from the first call to the finished work.