Awaab's Law in Wales? The hazard timescales Welsh social landlords follow from 1 April 2026.

England's Awaab's Law does not apply in Wales. Welsh councils and housing associations have their own rule: a new element 1c of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard 2023, introduced by the Welsh Government's addendum "Responding to Hazards" and in effect from 1 April 2026. It covers every HHSRS hazard except overcrowding, not only damp and mould, and it sets a deadline to remedy the hazard as well as to investigate it.

The timescales

The rule applies to hazards that result from building component defects or disrepair within the landlord's control. The HHSRS hazards it refers to are those in Schedule 1 to the HHSRS (Wales) Regulations 2006; England's 2026 changes to the HHSRS do not apply in Wales.

Significant risk, and who decides it

The rule is limited to cases where a significant risk is assessed. The statutory guidance in the addendum defines it as a risk of harm to the occupier's health or safety that a competent member of the landlord's workforce with the relevant knowledge would take steps to make safe as a matter of urgency. In assessing significant risk and imminent harm, landlords must take into account the individual circumstances of the tenant and other occupiers, including age, physical or mental health and any other vulnerabilities; the condition of the home; and the nature of the hazard, meaning how likely harm is and how severe it could be.

That puts the weight on the first visit. The record needs to show who assessed the home, when, what they found, who lives there and why the case went on the 24-hour or the 10-working-day track. HousingSurvey Pro's field app captures the visit on site, offline if needed, with a GPS fix sealed into the record, photos fingerprinted at the moment of capture and temperature, humidity and moisture readings with dew point worked out live.

The written summary plan

When, on best endeavours, a hazard cannot be remedied within the timescale, the landlord must give the tenant a written summary plan within 5 working days, in hard copy or electronically, and properly record in its own records that it was issued. At a minimum it must include:

• The nature of the hazard and whether it was assessed as presenting imminent harm
• The action taken, or to be taken, to make the home safe
• The work to be done to remedy the hazard
• When that work is likely to start and finish
• The arrangements to reduce the risk to the occupier in the meantime
• How to contact the landlord: a named person with a direct email address or phone number

In the HousingSurvey Pro portal, a letter to the resident is drafted from the same case as the investigation, and the date it was provided is stamped on the case, including when it went out by post or email outside the platform.

Reporting to the Welsh Government

Compliance with element 1c is reported as part of the detailed WHQS compliance report, with a separate high-level summary in the quarterly social landlord return. The addendum says the first quarterly report was due at the end of June 2026 and the full detailed report at the end of the 2026/27 financial year. Separately, the Welsh Government's January 2026 note on immediate changes introduces an annual Compliance Monitoring Report, due by 1 October each year starting in October 2026.

"Free from damp" still applies

Element 1c sits alongside element 1b: homes must be free from damp. The January 2026 note repeats that the mere absence of a Category 1 damp hazard does not constitute a pass, that minor dampness assessed as a Category 2 hazard does not pass either, and that persistent condensation counts. Landlords must report any Category 1 or Category 2 damp scores. A case can close the element 1c clock and still leave the home short of element 1b, so the follow-up visit belongs on the same property record.

How Wales differs from England

England's position is explained in the statutory timeline and Phase 2 hazards; Scotland's in Awaab's Law in Scotland. A landlord with homes in more than one nation needs each case labelled with the rules that govern it.

Private landlords in Wales

Element 1c applies to social landlords only. The December 2025 statement reminds all landlords of their duty under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 to keep homes fit for human habitation, including dealing with damp and mould promptly and effectively; the first matter in the Fitness for Human Habitation Regulations is exposure to house dust mites, damp, mould or fungal growth.

Where HousingSurvey Pro fits

• The risk assessment, recorded as it happens. Geo-stamped, fingerprinted photos and readings, captured offline and sealed on completion.
• One case from report to remedy. Cases flow from your housing system or the portal to a surveyor's inbox, and the evidence flows back to the same property record.
• Contractors inside your chain. Contractor organisations capture against your stock under scoped access; the evidence belongs to you.
• Records that stand up later. Hash-chained per property, an append-only audit log, UK data residency and signed evidence bundles for a complaint or a compliance return.
• Into your housing system. API, webhooks, EDI and SFTP, so the case lives where your repairs team already works.

HousingSurvey Pro records and evidences the work; it does not make a landlord compliant on its own. Whether a hazard presents a significant risk or imminent harm, and what remedy it needs, stays the assessor's and the landlord's judgement.

More on Awaab's Law

• Awaab's Law & the evidence question (overview)
• Damp and mould compliance software in Wales
• Awaab's Law for repairs contractors
• Damp and hazard rules in Wales, explained for surveyors

Frequently asked questions

This page is general information, not legal advice. It summarises Welsh Government standards and guidance as read on 28 September 2026; always confirm the current requirements with your compliance team.