Awaab's Law Phase 2 applies from 30 November 2026. Seven new hazard categories, the same statutory clock.
Phase 2 of Awaab's Law applies from 30 November 2026, extending statutory repair timescales to seven additional hazard categories, including falls and domestic hygiene, across social housing.
From 30 November 2026, Phase 2 of Awaab's Law extends the statutory repair framework that came into force for damp and mould last year to seven additional hazard categories. Housing associations need their systems, data, and workflows ready for a material expansion of their compliance obligations.
What happened
Phase 1 of Awaab's Law took effect on 27 October 2025, requiring registered providers of social housing to investigate and address emergency hazards within 24 hours and damp or mould hazards presenting a significant risk of harm within a strict sequence of deadlines: investigation within 10 working days of a report, a written summary to the tenant within 3 working days, and safety works completed within 5 working days.
Phase 2 applies from 30 November 2026 under the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, as amended by the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. The same timescale framework will apply to seven additional hazard categories where they present a significant risk of harm: electrical hazards; falls (including falls on the level, falls on stairs and falls between levels); fire and explosions; excess cold; excess heat; structural collapse and falling elements; domestic hygiene (personal hygiene and food safety). Damp and mould remain covered.
The scope is significant. The government has said Phase 3 will be introduced in 2027, extending the framework to all remaining HHSRS hazards except overcrowding.
Why it matters for developers
Housing associations managing new-build homes face a specific compounding problem during the defect liability period. For the typical two-year DLP window after completion, both the developer's defect obligations and the HA's Awaab's Law timescales run in parallel. A heating failure or electrical fault in a new-build home can be both a developer defect and, from 30 November 2026, a significant hazard subject to the expanded statutory timescales.
Research published in early 2026 flagged poor data quality and legacy IT systems as the primary compliance barrier. Where repair records do not log hazard types at the HHSRS category level, providers cannot demonstrate they have identified and triaged a Phase 2 hazard correctly from the moment it is reported. Mobysoft's research, published earlier this year, estimated landlords spend an average of £8,682 to remedy a single Category 1 hazard, with potential total exposure exceeding £11,500 per case once legal costs and compensation are included.
The data problem is especially acute for new-build homes, where the unit's condition at handover should be documented, any defects should be recorded from first inspection, and the repair and defect history should be accessible to the team responding to a tenant's report. For providers taking on homes from multiple developers across different schemes, that record rarely sits in one place.
What to watch
Ahead of the 30 November 2026 implementation date, housing associations need to audit their systems, check that repairs logging captures hazard type at HHSRS category level, and confirm workflows can produce a dated written summary for each case within the required timescale. For registered providers acquiring new-build homes, the handover record from day one is the foundation of that evidence trail. The government has said Phase 3 will be introduced in 2027, expanding the framework to all remaining HHSRS hazards except overcrowding. Any system gaps that survive Phase 2 preparation will become more expensive to address later.
How Guided Home helps
For housing associations taking new-build homes into their portfolio, the starting point for Awaab's Law compliance is a clean, dated record of the property at handover, not assembled months later when a tenant reports a hazard.
Guided Home's Inspections and Defects module provides a structured record of unit condition from first inspection through close of the defect liability period, with every defect logged, dated and traceable. The Document Assurance engine validates that completion documentation (including commissioning records, safety certificates and compliance evidence) is present and verified against the mandatory checklist before responsibility transfers.
When a tenant reports a hazard, the handover record is already there. When a regulator asks for evidence of the property's condition at the point of occupation, it is structured, timestamped and accessible, not scattered across email archives and shared drives.
The Executive Dashboard gives asset directors portfolio-level visibility of inspection status, outstanding defects and document completeness across every scheme, so exposure is managed proactively rather than discovered per-complaint.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Awaab's Law in the social rented sector
- GOV.UK: "Safer homes for 4m tenants with quicker action on dangerous homes" (13 July 2026)
- GOV.UK: Awaab's Law Phase 2: Guidance for social landlords
- GOV.UK: "Millions of tenants safe from black mould through Awaab's Law" (October 2025)
- GOV.UK: Awaab's Law consultation on timescales (government response)
- Chartered Institute of Housing: "Awaab's Law is now in force in the social housing sector" (October 2025)
- CHICS: "Awaab's Law Phase 2: what every housing co-op needs to know before October 2026" (10 April 2026)
- Mobysoft: "Awaab's Law Phase 2 is Coming: What Social Landlords Need to Know" (2026)
- FM Business Daily: "Poor Data Hindering Landlords' Compliance with Awaab's Law" (March 2026)