Phase 2 of Awaab's Law starts on 30 November 2026. Tomorrow is exactly four weeks before it.
Phase 1 has applied since 27 October 2025 and covers damp and mould and emergency hazards. Phase 2 adds seven groups of hazards where they present a significant risk of harm. The government puts the number of social housing tenants covered at about 4 million. Phase 3 follows in 2027 and takes in the remaining Housing Health and Safety Rating System hazards, apart from overcrowding.
The useful question for the next four weeks is not whether the rules are understood. It is whether a report about a broken heater, a loose stair rail or a sparking socket would start the right clock on the day it arrives.
What is added
The seven groups are:
- excess cold
- excess heat
- falls, on the level, on stairs and between levels
- fire and explosions
- electrical hazards
- structural collapse and falling elements
- domestic hygiene, including pest infestations
Most of these already arrive as ordinary repairs. That is the change. A job that sat in a routine repairs queue last month may now need assessing against a legal timescale. Excess cold is the obvious example, as it lands at the start of the heating season. Defective heating, poor insulation and damaged windows can all fall within it, depending on the risk to the household living there.
The clocks
The timescales are the ones landlords know from Phase 1, now applied more widely.
An emergency hazard must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours of the landlord becoming aware of it.
A significant hazard must be investigated within 10 working days. A written summary goes to the tenant within 3 working days of the investigation ending, where the guidance requires one. Safety work must be finished within 5 working days of the investigation ending. Longer term preventative work must begin within that period where it can, and otherwise as soon as reasonably practicable and within 12 weeks.
If the work cannot be finished in time, the landlord must offer suitable alternative accommodation at its own expense.
What to check in the next four weeks
Where reports come in. Reports reach you through the contact centre, the repairs line, an email to a housing officer, a contractor on site and a note from a neighbour. The clock starts when you become aware, so each of these routes needs a way of recording the date and passing the report on.
How repairs are triaged. Ask whether the people taking calls can spot a Phase 2 hazard. A report about no heating from a household with a baby or an older person is a different job from the same report in an empty flat. The guidance expects the assessment to reflect the actual risk to the household.
Whether contractors know the dates. A contractor who attends on day 9 and reports back on day 14 has used up your investigation period. Check that orders carry the deadline and that their reports return in time.
What temporary measures you hold. Temporary heaters can reduce an immediate risk, although the repair may still be needed. Know how many you have, where they are and who can deliver them on a Sunday in December.
Your letters. Written summaries, appointment notices and access letters need wording that works for all seven groups, not just damp and mould.
Write down the attempts as well as the repairs
The law gives landlords a defence where they used all reasonable endeavours to comply. Missed access is the common example: if a tenant cannot let you in, the timescales are not breached provided you can show what you tried. Entry needs at least 24 hours' written notice.
That defence depends on records. The guidance strongly advises keeping clear records of engagement, investigations and communications with tenants. So a useful record shows when the report arrived, who assessed it, what they decided and why, each attempt at access, when the summary was sent and when the work was finished.
Fire deserves a note of its own. Communal fire hazards covered by the Fire Safety Order sit outside this regime, so a single issue may belong in a different process depending on where it is. It helps to agree that split now rather than during a live job.
Where SAMRISK puts it
A report can be logged as an incident with its date, then raised as a maintenance job with an owner and a due date. Each deadline can sit on the compliance calendar, and letters, photographs and reports stay in the building's documents. Contractors called out go through contractors and permits. The record then shows the order of events without anyone having to rebuild it afterwards.
Sources: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Awaab's Law Phase 2 guidance for social landlords, updated 31 July 2026; MHCLG, Safer homes for 4m tenants with quicker action on dangerous homes, 13 July 2026.
General information as at November 2026. Not legal advice; check the regulation or ask a competent person.