How Long Does a Landlord Have to Fix Damp and Mould? Awaab's Law Timescales (2026)

The short answer: under Awaab's Law, a social landlord in England must investigate significant damp and mould within 10 working days of becoming aware of it, give the tenant a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation concluding, and make the property safe within 5 working days. Emergency hazards must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. This post walks through how those clocks actually run in practice — and what tenants, landlords, and surveyors each need to do when one starts ticking.

The timescales at a glance

Awaab's Law has applied to damp and mould hazards in social housing since 27 October 2025. For a significant hazard, the sequence is:

1. Day 0 — the landlord becomes aware. A tenant reports mould to the housing officer, a contractor flags damp during unrelated works, or a surveyor records it during a stock condition survey. Awareness is the trigger; no formal complaint is required.
2. Within 10 working days — investigate. The investigation must be sufficient to establish whether a significant hazard exists and what is causing it. In practice this means a damp inspection by a competent person, with readings and photographs.
3. Within 3 working days of the investigation concluding — written summary. The tenant must receive a written summary of the findings: whether a hazard was found, what the landlord will do about it, and when.
4. Within 5 working days of the investigation concluding — make safe. The safety work that removes the immediate risk must be carried out. This is not the full repair — it is whatever stops the hazard harming the household now.
5. Within 12 weeks — begin further repair work. Underlying works (fixing the leak, replacing the damp-proof course, upgrading ventilation) must start within 12 weeks and be completed in a reasonable time, with the tenant kept informed.

For emergency hazards — those presenting an immediate and significant risk of harm — the whole front end compresses to 24 hours to investigate and make safe.

When does the clock actually start?

The most litigated question is day zero. The duty bites when the landlord becomes aware of a potential hazard, and the Housing Ombudsman has taken a broad view of awareness: a complaint to any member of staff or agent counts, and internal delay in passing the report upstream does not pause the clock. A mould report sitting in a contact-centre queue for a week has already consumed half the investigation window.

This is why capture matters as much as repair. Landlords need a timestamped record of when each report arrived, and surveyors are increasingly instructed with only days left on the clock. Our guide to Awaab's Law for surveyors covers what that means for inspection turnaround.

What "investigate" requires

The regulations do not let a landlord discharge the duty with a phone call. An investigation must be capable of establishing the presence, severity, and cause of the hazard — which for damp and mould means an inspection by someone competent to diagnose it: moisture readings, surface and air measurements where relevant, photographic evidence, and a defensible conclusion about cause. Our post on telling condensation, damp, and mould apart explains why misdiagnosis at this stage is the most common route to a failed remediation — and a reopened case.

What happens when deadlines are missed

Awaab's Law works by implying the timescales into the tenancy agreement. Missing a deadline is therefore a breach of contract: the tenant can go to court, claim compensation, and the Housing Ombudsman can make findings of maladministration with orders attached. The landlord's main defence is evidence — records showing it used all reasonable endeavours to comply. No records, no defence.

That is the operational heart of the law: it is as much a record-keeping duty as a repair duty. Housing providers need, for every case, a timestamped trail from first report through investigation, written summary, make-safe, and completed works. SurveyMate's Awaab's Law module builds that trail automatically — statutory clocks tracked per case, escalation before a deadline is breached, and the written summary drafted from the surveyor's findings. For the wider regulatory picture, see our compliance overview.

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