Awaab's Law changed what "we inspected it" has to mean.

Awaab Ishak died in 2020 from prolonged exposure to mould in his family's social home. The law that carries his name — introduced through the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 — sets fixed timescales for social landlords in England to investigate and address prescribed hazards. Phase 1 has covered all potential emergency hazards and potential significant damp and mould hazards since 27 October 2025. Scotland has a separate framework; the timings on this page must not be applied outside English social housing.

Built on the reformed HHSRS (2026) — the language your governance already speaks

From 23 June 2026 the Housing Health and Safety Rating System was overhauled: 21 hazard profiles in four themes, three plain bands (High = Category 1 at a score of 1,000+, Medium, Low), renamed classes of harm and new baseline indicators. HousingSurvey Pro has the full 2026 assessment built into the field app — surveyors pick the hazard profile, record their likelihood and harm-outcome judgements, and the published formula scores and bands the hazard on the spot, sealed into the tamper-evident record.

And because Awaab's Law timescales attach to hazards in phases, the app tells the surveyor live whether the hazard they're assessing is inside statutory deadlines today, scheduled for a coming phase, or an emergency on the 24-hour track — with both statutory tracks (working-day and emergency) tracked stage by stage: investigate, written summary, works begin.

The compliance question is an evidence question

Deadlines are only half the requirement. When a tenant complaint reaches the Housing Ombudsman, the questions are: when did you know, when did you inspect, what did you find, what did you do — and can you prove any of that? Notes typed into a CMS weeks later, photos detached from their inspection context and editable spreadsheets can all be harder to verify than a dated field record with a preserved change history.

What defensible looks like

• Contemporaneous — captured on site, at the time, geo-stamped to the property.
• Complete — readings, observations and fingerprinted photos in one structured record, per home, over time.
• Tamper-evident — locked on completion with a server-set timestamp; cryptographically chained so any alteration, by anyone, is detectable.
• Traceable — an append-only audit trail from tenant report (work order) to locked evidence, with the statutory clock attached.
• Portable — flows into your case-management system automatically, and exports as a signed evidence bundle when the ombudsman asks.

HousingSurvey Pro combines that field record with work orders, case stages, resident communications and integrations; it supports the evidence workflow but does not decide legal compliance.

Awaab's Law, by audience and by stage

Whichever seat you're in, the requirement comes back to defensible evidence. These guides go deeper:

• Awaab's Law software for housing associations — stock-wide statutory clocks and HMS/CMS integration.
• Awaab's Law for repairs contractors — capture evidence inside your client's chain.
• Phase 2 hazards explained — the seven categories commencing 30 November 2026, and what to capture for each.
• The statutory timeline explained — investigation, written summary, repair and the 24-hour emergency track.
• The written summary requirement — what it must contain, and the 3-working-day deadline.
• HHSRS damp & mould hazard scoring — Category 1 vs 2, and what to evidence.
• The deadline calculator — enter an awareness date and get the statutory damp and mould deadlines.
• The cost of getting it wrong — Ombudsman findings, disrepair claims and how evidence reduces them.
• How HousingSurvey Pro compares — honest, sourced comparisons with AwaabSafe, PocketSurvey and paper & spreadsheets.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Statutory timescales are counted in working days, differ between nations, and are being phased in — always confirm current requirements with your compliance team.