Awaab's Law Phase 2: 30 November 2026 Explained

On 30 November 2026, Awaab's Law expands. Phase 1, in force since 27 October 2025, covers emergency hazards and significant damp and mould. Phase 2 keeps the same investigation and repair timeframes but applies them to a longer list of hazards — most significantly, for anyone who deals with damp, excess cold.

What Phase 2 adds

From 30 November 2026, social landlords in England must apply the Awaab's Law timeframes to:

excess cold
excess heat
falls
structural collapse
fire and explosion
electrical hazards
domestic hygiene

A third phase will later extend the duty to the remaining Housing Health and Safety Rating System hazards, with the exception of overcrowding, on a date that has not been confirmed.

The timeframes do not change

Phase 2 is a widening of scope, not a change to the deadlines. For a significant hazard, a landlord must still:

investigate within 10 working days of becoming aware of it (24 hours for an emergency)
give the tenant a written summary of the findings within 3 working days of the investigation concluding
complete safety works within 5 working days of the investigation concluding
begin any further preventative works as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event within 12 weeks

If the home cannot be made safe within the required time, the landlord must offer suitable alternative accommodation at their own expense.

Why excess cold and condensation mould are the same problem

This is the part that matters for damp and mould teams. A dwelling is an "excess cold" hazard when it is too cold for the health of its occupants — usually because it is poorly insulated, has an inadequate or unaffordable heating system, or is energy-inefficient.

Those are precisely the conditions that produce condensation mould. Cold internal surfaces sit below the dew point; under-heating never lets them warm up; and moisture from normal living condenses out onto them. So a Phase 2 excess cold assessment and a Phase 1 damp and mould assessment on the same property will, very often, point at the same remedial works: insulation, an adequate and affordable heating system, and ventilation to remove moisture.

The practical implication is that a landlord who "fixes" a mould complaint by cleaning the wall and improving one extractor fan, while leaving the home cold, has not resolved the underlying hazard — and after 30 November 2026 that unresolved cold is itself a reportable hazard with its own clock.

The operational gap this exposes

Most social landlords built their Awaab's Law processes in 2025 around a single hazard type: damp and mould. The people who log the reports, the contractors on the framework, the inspection checklists and the record templates are all shaped around fungal growth on a wall.

Phase 2 breaks that. Excess cold is not diagnosed by looking for black spots — it is diagnosed from the fabric: insulation levels, heating system adequacy, energy performance, and whether the tenant can actually afford to run the heating. Falls, electrical hazards and fire safety each need their own competence again. A landlord that treats Phase 2 as "more of the same" will find its damp-and-mould pipeline cannot absorb the new work.

The organisations that will cope are the ones already treating condensation as a building-performance problem rather than a cleaning problem — because that mindset, and the ventilation, heating and insulation supply chain that goes with it, is exactly what excess cold needs too.

What social landlords should have in place

A hazard-identification process that covers all the Phase 2 hazards, not just damp and mould — including a way to flag excess cold on inspection and from tenant reports.
Access to the right specialists: ventilation, heating and insulation contractors alongside damp and mould remediation.
Stock data on insulation levels, heating systems and energy efficiency, so cold homes can be found before a tenant reports them.
Record-keeping that evidences the investigation and repair timeframes for every hazard type.

What it signals for private landlords

The phased social-housing rollout does not apply to private landlords. The extension of Awaab's Law to the private rented sector is a separate measure under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, and its commencement date is subject to consultation and not yet confirmed — so no private-sector duty exists yet.

But the direction is not ambiguous. The social-housing scope is the clearest available indicator of where private obligations are heading: damp, mould, and increasingly cold homes. Private landlords who build their processes around "diagnose the building, not the occupant" now will not have to scramble later.

Awaab's Law Phase 2: what 30 November 2026 means for damp, mould and cold homes