Awaab's Law is already live in social housing. Build your private-lettings damp and mould response now

A tenant reports mould in the back bedroom. What happens in the next 24 hours, the next week and the next month is about to stop being a matter of goodwill and start being a matter of record.

In social housing this is already the rule. Since 27 October 2025, a social landlord in England has had fixed timescales for damp and mould: investigate a significant hazard within 10 working days, give the tenant the findings in writing within 3 working days of finishing, begin the work where a significant risk is found within a further few working days, and see the repair through on a set timetable. Emergencies move faster, inside 24 hours. Wider hazards follow in stages from 30 November 2026.

Private renting is not on that clock yet. The Renters' Rights Act carries the power to extend Awaab's Law to private landlords, and the main reforms have been live since 1 May, but the damp and mould timescales for the private sector still have to be consulted on and made law, most likely in 2027. So you have something you rarely get: notice. The direction is set, the standard is visible, and you can build the response before the deadline is the law rather than after.

Here is the response worth building now. Six steps, and the record each one leaves behind.

1. Log the report the moment it lands. Date and time, what the tenant said, any photos they sent, the property and the room. When the clock does apply it starts at the report, so the report is the anchor every later date is measured against. "They mentioned it at some point" is not a record. "Reported 4 August, 9.14am, photo of the rear bedroom wall" is.
2. Triage emergency against significant, and write down which. An active leak, a very young child, someone with a respiratory condition can turn ordinary mould into something that cannot wait. Decide quickly, note the reason, and treat the urgent ones as urgent.
3. Investigate the cause, not just the stain, and do it in days not weeks. Get someone to the property. Find why the moisture is there: a failed seal, cold bridging, a leak, ventilation that cannot cope. A reading off a meter is not a diagnosis. Record the cause you found.
4. Put the findings in writing to the tenant. The social-sector rule is a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation ending. Adopt that now. Tell the tenant, in dated writing, what you found and what happens next. It reassures them and it evidences you.
5. Act on the immediate risk first, then fix the root cause. Interim action within days to reduce the risk, then the proper works to a clear, dated timetable. Record both the holding step and the full repair, not just the finish.
6. Close the loop and keep the file. Dated before and after photos, the works order, the completion date, and the tenant's written confirmation it is resolved. That file is the whole point. It is what turns "we dealt with it" into something you can produce.

England and Wales, quickly.

England: Awaab's Law timescales already bind social landlords and are set to reach the private sector through the Renters' Rights Act. Wales: those timescales do not apply, but the Renting Homes (Wales) Act already requires the dwelling to be kept fit for human habitation throughout the occupation contract, with damp and mould among the matters assessed, under Rent Smart Wales licensing. Different mechanism, same expectation: act on it, and evidence that you did.

The takeaway.

The clock is coming to private renting, and the work it will ask for is not exotic. It is a report logged, a cause investigated, findings written down, action taken in order, and a dated file at the end. Build that response once, use it every time, and the day the timescales become law you are already running them.

This is not legal advice, and where enforcement happens the council or the court keeps the decision. But the process is the part you can build this week.

That is what we are building at HouseComply: the damp and mould report captured the moment it lands, the investigation and the works organised against an England and Wales rule library, so the response is evidenced in order rather than reconstructed later.

If a tenant reported mould in your worst property this morning, could you produce the dated trail of what you did about it, in order, without going looking?