What is Awaab's Law Phase 2?
Awaab's Law sets legal timescales that social landlords in England must follow when dealing with hazards in people's homes. Rather than switching every hazard on at once, the government is introducing them in phases. Phase 2 is the second of those stages, and it begins on 30 November 2026.
It applies to social landlords — councils and housing associations. Private renters are not currently covered by Awaab's Law in the same way, so if you rent privately, other standards still apply to your home and the same record-keeping advice holds.
What new hazards does Phase 2 cover?
From 30 November 2026, the significant-hazard requirements are extended, where the hazard presents a significant risk of harm, to:
- Excess cold.
- Excess heat.
- Falls — including falls on the level, falls on stairs and falls between levels.
- Structural collapse.
- Fire and explosions.
- Electrical hazards.
- Domestic hygiene, personal hygiene and food safety hazards.
What "significant risk of harm" means for you
Not every cold draught or loose stair carpet becomes a legal matter overnight. The timescales apply where the hazard presents a significant risk of harm. That is why describing the effect on the people living in the home matters so much: an older resident who cannot use the stairs safely, or a household that cannot keep a bedroom warm, is a different case from a minor defect. How you describe the impact forms part of how the hazard is assessed, so be specific about who is affected and what they can no longer do.
What timescales apply from 30 November 2026?
For a significant hazard covered by Phase 2, the same cycle of deadlines applies:
- Investigate within 10 working days of becoming aware of the hazard.
- Give you a written summary of the findings within 3 working days of the investigation concluding.
- Carry out any relevant safety work within 5 working days of the investigation concluding.
- Begin any supplementary preventative work within 5 working days, or, where that is not reasonably practicable, as soon as reasonably practicable and within 12 weeks.
What the written summary should tell you
The written summary is one of the most useful documents you will receive. It should say what was found, what action is needed and the target timeframes for that work, along with contact details. If it does not arrive, ask for it in writing and keep the request. In many cases it is the point at which your landlord's own view of your home becomes visible to you — and a dated copy is far more useful than a phone conversation you have to reconstruct later.
If the work cannot be finished in time
Where safety work cannot be completed within the required timescales, the landlord must arrange suitable alternative accommodation at its own expense until it is done. Landlords must also keep you updated on progress and give you information on how to stay safe in the meantime. If neither the work nor the accommodation materialises, that is something to raise — and a written record of what you were told, and when, is what makes the point.
What has not changed
Phase 2 adds to the rules that already exist; it does not replace them. The requirements that came into force on 27 October 2025 continue to apply in full to:
- All emergency hazards, which must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. Examples given in the guidance include gas or carbon monoxide leaks, broken boilers, total loss of water, exposed wiring and major leaks. Overcrowding is the one emergency hazard that is not covered.
- Significant damp and mould hazards, which remain subject to the investigation, summary and repair timescales set out above.
A broken boiler is already an emergency
Some of the problems people will read about as "new" are already covered today. A gas leak, a total loss of water or exposed wiring should be investigated and made safe within 24 hours under the rules in force since 27 October 2025 — you do not need to wait until November 2026 for those.
What Phase 2 does not cover
The guidance is also clear about what sits outside these requirements:
- Overcrowding.
- Hoarding.
- Homes held under a licence.
- Leaseholders, owner-occupiers and shared owners.
- Hazards caused by a tenant's breach of their tenancy.
If you are told it is a "lifestyle" problem
A hazard caused by a tenant's breach of their tenancy falls outside the requirements — but landlords should not simply assume a "lifestyle" cause. If you are told the problem is down to how you live in the home, ask for the findings in writing, keep photographing the problem with dates, and note the steps you are already taking, such as ventilating and heating rooms. A clear history of the problem returning despite those steps is a far stronger basis for a challenge than an argument on the phone.
What to do if you have one of these problems
If your home has a hazard that Phase 2 will cover, the steps that help are the same ones that work today:
- Report it in writing through your landlord's usual routes — email, online repairs portal or letter — so there is a clear date on which the landlord became aware.
- Describe the hazard and its effect on the people in the home, not just the defect.
- Take dated photographs or short videos; images may be used as part of a report.
- Ask for an in-person inspection if a phone or online assessment does not reflect the problem.
- Ask for the written summary of the findings and keep it with your other documents.
- Record any health impact as it happens — symptoms, appointments, advice you have been given.
- Keep all of it together in one case file rather than across email, text messages and a notebook.
You do not need medical evidence
You do not need medical evidence to report a hazard or to have it investigated. A representative can report on your behalf — a family member, a carer, an adviser or a councillor — and no diagnosis is required for a problem to be looked at. Recording any health effects as they happen is still useful if you later complain, but it is not a condition of reporting.
Access to your home
Your landlord must give at least 24 hours' written notice before entering and must agree a suitable time with you. Tenants are expected to help arrange access, so if a proposed appointment does not work, suggest another time rather than simply refusing. Keeping a note of the appointments you are offered and agree to helps show you have cooperated.
How a Housing Issue Case File helps
The timescales in Awaab's Law only help you if you can show when your landlord became aware of the hazard and what happened afterwards. That is a records question more than a legal one, and it is the same question whether the hazard is damp and mould today or an unsafe stair from November 2026.
From the very first sign of a problem, keep your own records. Save photographs, note the dates, record any health impacts, keep every message from your landlord, and build a clear timeline. Storing everything in one place — a Housing Issue Case File — is what turns scattered notes into a record that is easy to follow and hard to ignore.
For a Phase 2 hazard, that record is usually simple: dated photographs of the cold room or the unsafe stair, the message that first reported it, the inspection summary, notes of any health effects in the household, and a list of what was promised and when it was due. Our guide to Awaab's Law explained covers the underlying rules, and the damp and mould in social housing guide looks at how the same approach works for damp and mould.
If the problem is still unresolved, complaints go through your landlord's own complaints process and then, if needed, to the Housing Ombudsman. Our Housing Ombudsman complaint process guide walks through that route step by step.