Your home should be a safe place to live.
Awaab’s Law helps make sure social landlords act quickly when serious safety problems are reported. It is named after a two-year-old boy who sadly died after living with severe mould in his home.
What safety risks does the law cover?
The law already covers serious damp and mould and emergency safety risks.
From 30 November, it will also cover seven more types of serious safety risks:
- Excess cold – when problems with heating or insulation make your home dangerously cold.
- Excess heat – when problems such as poor ventilation make your home dangerously hot.
- Falls – unsafe stairs, uneven floors or other problems that could cause a serious fall.
- Structural collapse – unsafe walls, roofs or other parts of the building that could collapse or fall.
- Fire and explosions – serious risks from fire, smoke or explosions.
- Electrical hazards – dangerous wiring or electrical fittings.
- Domestic hygiene – problems with the building that make it difficult to keep your home clean, use washing facilities safely or control pests.
You don't need to decide if a problem is serious or covered by the law. We'll check your concerns and explain what happens next.
How quickly must we act?
Emergency safety risks
We must check the problem and make your home safe within 24 hours. If we cannot make it safe, we must offer you a safe place to stay when needed.
Other serious safety risks covered by the law
We must investigate within 10 working days.
We must write to you within 3 working days of finishing our investigation to explain what we found.
If safety work is needed, we must start it within 5 working days of finishing our investigation. Any further work must be done within the time required by law.
We'll keep you informed
We'll explain what we've found, what we'll do, when work will happen and how we'll keep you updated.
Worried something in your home isn't safe?
Please tell us as soon as possible. Report it through the form on our Damp and Mould page or call 0161 448 4200.