Quarterly BAS Due (July–September)
Form 1099-NEC & Contractor Payment Reporting Check
Why this matters.
Awaab’s Law — introduced through the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 from prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s social housing flat — imposes fixed, legally enforceable deadlines on landlords for investigating and fixing hazards. Phase 1 took effect on 27 October 2025 and covers damp and mould: landlords must investigate potential hazards within 10 working days of becoming aware of them, provide a written summary of findings within 3 working days of that investigation, and start repair works within 5 working days for anything found to be a significant hazard. Emergency hazards — ones that pose an imminent risk of serious harm — must be made safe within 24 hours. Phase 2, coming into force on 30 November 2026, extends the same fixed deadlines to a much wider set of hazards: excess cold and excess heat, falls, structural collapse, fire, electrical hazards, and food safety/hygiene.
Until now Awaab’s Law has applied to social landlords — housing associations and local authorities — but the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 extends equivalent hazard-response duties into the private rented sector, meaning private landlords and letting or managing agents will increasingly need the same systems in place as social housing providers. Falling short is not a paperwork issue: tenants and their advisers can and do rely on missed statutory deadlines directly in disrepair claims and complaints to the Housing Ombudsman, and repeated failures can trigger regulatory intervention from the Regulator of Social Housing. With Phase 2’s wider hazard list only a few months away and private sector duties following close behind, now is the point to check that hazard logging, investigation, and repair processes can actually evidence compliance with these timescales — not just that repairs eventually get done.
