Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard for private landlords: the new damp and repair duties

"Do I really have to fix damp on a deadline now?"

If you let property in England, the short answer is that fixed deadlines for damp and mould are on their way to the private rented sector, and it pays to get ahead of them. Two rules are converging: Awaab's Law, which puts a legal clock on investigating and fixing hazards, and the Decent Homes Standard, which sets a baseline for what a rentable home must offer. Both started in social housing. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 extends both to private landlords for the first time.

Here is what is actually changing, when, and how to prepare without panicking.

What Awaab's Law actually is

Awaab's Law is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in a social rented flat. It began in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and forces landlords to act on reported hazards within set timescales rather than leaving them open-ended.

For social landlords, the first phase took effect on 27 October 2025 and covers damp and mould plus emergency hazards. Later phases widen it to more hazard types across 2026 and 2027. The idea is simple: once you are told about a serious hazard, a countdown starts, and "we'll get to it" stops being a defence.

What the Renters' Rights Act changes for private landlords

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, with the main tenancy reforms commencing on 1 May 2026. Alongside abolishing Section 21 and moving every tenancy to a periodic basis, the Act does two things that matter here:

• It extends Awaab's Law to private tenancies, so the same style of fixed repair timescales will apply to you.
• It applies a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time.

A timing note worth flagging: as of July 2026 the precise Awaab's Law timescales for private landlords are still being set through regulations (secondary legislation). The social-sector timescales already in force are the clearest guide to what private landlords should expect, so treat the numbers below as the template to plan around, and check the final private-sector regulations when they are published.

The Decent Homes Standard, now for private rentals

The Decent Homes Standard is a baseline, not a luxury spec. A home is "decent" when it meets four tests:

1. It is free of the most serious (Category 1) health and safety hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
2. It is in a reasonable state of repair.
3. It has reasonably modern facilities and services, for example a kitchen and bathroom that are not excessively old or poorly laid out.
4. It provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort, meaning effective heating and insulation.

Most well-kept rentals already clear this bar. The change is that it becomes a legal minimum you can be enforced against, and damp and mould feed directly into test one. You can read the definition on gov.uk's Decent Homes guidance.

The repair clock: a worked example

The social-sector timescales give you concrete numbers to plan against. Investigate within 10 working days, put your findings in writing within 3 working days of finishing that investigation, and begin repairs within 5 working days where the investigation shows a significant hazard. Anything posing an imminent risk of harm must be tackled within 24 hours.

Say a tenant reports black mould spreading across a bedroom wall on Monday 1 June 2026. Counting working days only (weekends excluded), the clock looks like this:

The lesson is not the exact dates, which depend on the final private-sector rules. It is that a single message from a tenant can start a three-week sequence with a written paper trail at each step. If you manage properties yourself, that is a diary and a record-keeping habit, not a one-off fix.

An honest reality check on cost

Damp is rarely a one-line repair. A realistic worked example for a single mould outbreak caused by a failed extractor fan and poor ventilation might be:

• Damp and mould survey: around £150 to £300.
• Replacement humidity-sensing extractor fan, fitted: around £250 to £450.
• Mould treatment and repaint of the affected wall: around £200 to £400.

That is roughly £600 to £1,150 for one room, before any structural cause such as a leaking gutter or a failed damp-proof course. These are illustrative figures to help you budget, not quotes. The point holds either way: a fast, documented response is usually cheaper than a drawn-out dispute, an enforcement notice from the council, or a rent-repayment claim.

What to do before the rules bite

You do not need to wait for every regulation to be finalised. Sensible steps now:

• Log every disrepair report with a date, so your countdown is provable.
• Deal with ventilation early. Working extractor fans, clear trickle vents, and honest advice to tenants beats repainting over mould each winter.
• Book a damp survey for any property with a repeat history rather than treating the symptoms each time.
• Keep your EPC in view too. The separate proposal for a minimum EPC band C (for new tenancies by 2028 and all tenancies by 2030) often overlaps with the same insulation and heating work that keeps a home "decent".
• Keep your paperwork in one place per property: reports, surveys, invoices, and the written summaries you send tenants.

The bottom line

Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard turn "fix it when you can" into "fix it on the clock, and prove it." For most landlords who already look after their properties, the practical change is discipline: respond fast, write it down, and keep the evidence. Getting that habit in place before the private-sector timescales switch on is the cheapest form of compliance there is.

This is general information, not tax or financial advice. Check the final regulations and speak to a qualified adviser about your own properties.