Awaab’s Law could cover private renters in England
England may be about to widen one of its most important housing safety rules. In a new consultation, the UK Government says Awaab’s Law could be extended beyond social housing, so private renters and people in other insecure forms of accommodation can get dangerous problems fixed faster. If you have ever heard damp and mould spoken about as if they are minor annoyances, this story is a correction. These are conditions that can damage health and make everyday life unsafe, especially for children, older people and anyone already living with poor health.
Awaab’s Law is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to dangerous damp and mould. The law was introduced so landlords face clear legal deadlines, rather than leaving tenants trapped in long complaints processes while the hazard stays put. **What this means:** the argument is not only that dangerous homes should be repaired. It is that repairs should happen quickly enough to protect people before more harm is done.
The government says widening the law could add more than 5 million households to these protections, taking the total number of homes covered by Awaab’s Law repair timescales from about 4 million to around 9 million. You may notice two different figures in the debate. Ministers also talk about England’s 11 million private renters. That is not necessarily a contradiction: one number counts households, while the other counts people living in the rented sector.
The consultation is wider than private renting alone. It is also asking whether the same repair deadlines should apply to temporary accommodation for homeless people and families, homes for young people leaving care, and supported housing, where many older, disabled and otherwise vulnerable residents live. That matters because the worst housing problems are often concentrated where people already have the least power to push back. A legal deadline does not solve everything, but it does give tenants, support workers and councils a firmer basis for demanding action.
Private landlords already have duties when the most serious hazards are found. But Awaab’s Law goes a step further by putting speed into the law. In plain English, this is the difference between saying a landlord must act at some point and saying they must act within a set timeframe. The government says around one in 10 privately rented homes contains a category 1 hazard, the highest level under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System used to judge safety risks in homes. It also says the Renters’ Rights Act brought in fines of up to £7,000 for private landlords where these serious dangers are found.
The wider legal picture matters here too. The same government says recent renting reforms are meant to help tenants raise complaints without fearing reprisals, including by making no-reason eviction illegal and allowing above-market rent rises to be challenged in court. **Why this matters for you:** when tenant rights work properly, they change the balance of power. A right on paper is useful, but it becomes much more real when you can complain, stay in your home and point to a deadline the landlord is meant to meet.
The consultation stays open until 18 December 2026, so this is still a live policy debate rather than a finished rulebook. An options assessment has been published alongside it, which means ministers are asking for evidence on how the change would affect landlords, tenants and the wider housing system. This is a good reminder of how law often changes in practice. First there is a public problem, then pressure from families and campaigners, then a consultation, then the detail of enforcement. If you are learning how government works, housing law is one of the clearest places to watch that process.
Support for the move has come from groups working closely with renters. Generation Rent says too many tenants are left waiting months for repairs. Crisis says homeless people are too often placed in temporary accommodation that is itself unsafe. Independent Age says some older renters are still scared to ask for fixes, and Become says care leavers need safe, stable homes as they move into adulthood. Read together, those responses show why this consultation matters. Housing law can sound technical, but its real question is simple: when a home is making someone ill, how fast must the people responsible put it right?
Awaab’s Law is already in force in social housing, where the UK Government says it protects more than 4 million tenants. Phase 1 started on 31 October 2025 and covers severe damp and mould. Subject to parliamentary approval, phase 2 is due on 30 November 2026 and would add other serious risks such as electrical hazards, excess cold and falls. A final phase is planned for 2027 to cover the remaining major hazards in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which the government says was recently updated for the first time in 20 years, apart from overcrowding, which is handled separately. For you as a reader, the picture is straightforward. Safe housing should not depend on who your landlord is. If ministers go ahead, more renters in England will gain a clearer, faster route to getting dangerous problems fixed.