Awaab's Law Compliance Checklist for Social Landlords

Awaab's Law turns "we'll get to it" into a legal deadline. For social landlords, the difference between compliance and a finding of maladministration usually comes down to process: did you act within the timeframes, and can you prove it? This checklist breaks the obligation into the practical steps a stock team needs to have nailed down. It is a working aid, not legal advice — always check the current regulations and your own legal guidance.

Before a case is even reported

• You have a single, reliable channel for tenants to report damp and mould, and every route into the organisation feeds it.
• The clock-start event — the moment you become aware of a potential hazard — is captured automatically, with a date and time, on every report.
• Frontline and contact-centre staff know that a damp or mould report starts a statutory process, not a routine repair ticket.

Investigation stage

• The case is triaged for severity and occupant vulnerability immediately, so emergency cases are escalated within the shortest timeframe.
• A competent person inspects within the statutory investigation window. (For the current timeframes, see our surveyor's guide to Awaab's Law.)
• The inspection captures the cause of the damp — not just the symptom — with supporting meter and hygrometer readings.
• Occupant vulnerabilities (children, older residents, respiratory conditions) are recorded, because they determine which timeframe applies.
• Photographs are time-stamped and linked to each finding, with an unbroken chain from inspection to report.

Reporting and communication stage

• A written summary of the findings is provided to the tenant within the required period after the investigation concludes.
• The summary is in plain English, states what was found and what happens next, and is logged as having been sent.
• HHSRS hazard scoring is recorded with the methodology shown — not a bare "Category 1" label. Our guide to HHSRS hazards explains the scoring.

Remediation stage

• Where works are required to address a significant hazard, they begin within the statutory window and any emergency make-safe action is taken immediately.
• The confirmed hazard is passed cleanly into repairs, so the remediation clock is not lost in a handover between systems.
• Completion is recorded against the case, and a post-works check confirms the hazard has actually been resolved rather than masked.

Evidence and audit stage

• Every action — report, inspection, summary, works, completion — is timestamped into a single audit trail for the case.
• Reports are versioned, so an amended report never silently replaces the original in your evidence.
• You can produce the full history of any case on demand, in the form the Housing Ombudsman expects.

Turning the checklist into a system

The pattern in every ombudsman finding of maladministration is the same: the works might have been done, but the evidence that the deadlines were met cannot be produced. A checklist on the wall does not fix that — the discipline has to be built into the workflow so the right record is captured automatically, every time, without anyone having to remember.

That is exactly what SurveyMate's Awaab's Law module is designed to do: start the clock on report, prompt for the fields the ombudsman cares about, and assemble the timestamped audit trail as a byproduct of the survey. See how SurveyMate handles Awaab's Law compliance for housing providers.