If your privately rented flat has damp on the walls, mould in the bathroom, or a roof that leaks every time it rains, Awaab's Law does not yet give you a deadline you can enforce against your landlord.
The law is named after Awaab Ishak, who died aged two in December 2020 from exposure to mould in a Rochdale social housing flat. It has applied to social housing since 27 October 2025. The government plans to extend it to private tenancies, but no start date has been set and it is consulting on the timescales until 18 December 2026.
Private renters are not powerless while they wait. The repair rights they already have carry more teeth than many realise.
Does Awaab's Law apply to private renters in 2026?
Not yet. Awaab's Law was created by section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, which inserted a new section 10A into the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. That section applies to social housing tenancies only. The first phase came into force on 27 October 2025, covering emergency hazards and significant damp and mould.
For private tenancies, section 60 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 gives the government the power to apply Awaab's Law to the private rented sector. That section is not yet in force. On 9 October 2026 the government opened a consultation on extending Awaab's Law to private tenancies, which runs until 18 December 2026. It asks how long private landlords should have to fix hazards and when the law should start, but sets no start date.
So if you rent privately in England, your landlord is not yet bound by Awaab's Law timescales. You still have enforceable repair rights, covered below. If you are in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, different rules apply.
What Awaab's Law requires social landlords to do
For social housing in England, Awaab's Law writes fixed timescales into the tenancy. Emergency hazards must be made safe within 24 hours, and significant damp and mould must be investigated within 10 working days. You may have seen earlier articles saying landlords get 14 days to investigate. That figure came from the government's January 2024 consultation and did not survive into the final regulations. Our guide to Awaab's Law timescales for social housing tenants sets out every clock.
What private renters can use instead of Awaab's Law
Private renters already have three routes, and they work today.
Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 obliges your landlord to keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair and to keep the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, and heating working. Once you have reported a problem, the landlord must fix it within a reasonable time. There is no fixed number of days, but what counts as reasonable shrinks fast with severity. A broken boiler in January should be a matter of days, not weeks.
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires your home to be fit for human habitation at the start of the tenancy and throughout it. Serious damp and mould typically fails that test. You can sue your landlord for an order requiring the works and for compensation. There is no fixed legal limit, although compensation for living with the problem is usually measured against, and normally no more than, the rent for the period. Damaged belongings and any injury to health are compensated on top.
Your local council's environmental health team can inspect the property, assess hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, and serve an improvement notice requiring the landlord to act. Council enforcement costs you nothing. Since 1 May 2026, a landlord who fails to comply with an improvement notice faces a civil penalty of up to £40,000 or prosecution.
That failure can also support a Rent Repayment Order, covering rent for the months the landlord was failing to comply, less any Universal Credit or Housing Benefit paid towards the rent. For failures from 1 May 2026 the cap is 2 years of that rent, but any part of a failure before 1 May 2026 stays under the old 12-month cap.
How to report damp or mould to a private landlord
How you report the problem matters, because proof of when your landlord knew is what your claim runs from.
Your landlord is in breach of the section 11 duty to repair once they know about the problem, whether by phone, text, email or their own inspection, and fail to fix it within a reasonable time. A dated written report is the clearest proof of that date. A WhatsApp message saying "there's a bit of mould" does not create the same record as a formal written notice describing the hazard, its location, and the date you are reporting it. Use email if you can, and keep a copy.
Say which room the hazard is in, describe what you can see (black mould on the north wall, about 50cm by 30cm, since October 2025), attach photos, and ask the landlord to inspect and confirm a repair date within 14 days. No law sets that 14 days for private landlords. It is your deadline, and it gives you a clean record of delay if they miss it.
What happens if your landlord ignores a damp or mould report
If a reasonable time has passed and nothing has happened, the breach is documented from that point forward.
Start with a letter of claim under the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims. This tells your landlord you intend to bring a claim and gives them 20 working days to respond. Landlords who have ignored texts often respond differently to a letter that cites specific legislation and names a claim value.
If the letter produces nothing, your next steps are reporting to the council's environmental health team and filing a claim in the county court. Both routes can run at the same time. Environmental health can inspect the property, serve an improvement notice, and pursue penalties if the landlord ignores it.
For compensation, courts commonly award a percentage of the rent for the period the problem was ignored. Reported awards for serious damp and mould often fall between 25% and 50%, and more where the home was unfit to live in.
The Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman is not open yet, and membership is not expected to become mandatory until around 2028. Our guide to Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman complaints explains what is planned.
How to build a strong disrepair claim as a private renter
A claim lives or dies on evidence. The tenants who recover compensation are the ones who documented everything before they needed it.
From the moment you notice a hazard, photograph it. Date-stamp the photos by sending them to your own email. Note any damage to your belongings. If it affects your health, tell your GP so there is a medical record.
Save every message, email and screenshot. If your landlord promises on the phone to fix something, confirm it by email the same day.
Keep any council inspection report. It is independent evidence of the hazard and carries real weight in court.
When Awaab's Law does reach the private rented sector, fixed timescales will apply to private landlords too. Until then, start with a dated email to your landlord describing the hazard and asking for a repair date.
If your landlord has not dealt with a damp or mould hazard, Remedy can help you report the problem to your landlord in writing, ask your council's private housing or environmental health team to inspect, and keep a dated record of what happened. Remedy does not give a legal assessment of disrepair compensation or bring claims for you. If you want advice on compensation, you can contact a solicitor or advice charity listed in our legal help directory. Each one is independent, and you contact them directly.
