With the next phase of Awaab’s Law just months away, housing leaders and specialists will come together in September to examine whether the sector is ready for a major expansion of its responsibilities to tenants.
Housing Executive’s Senior Leaders Forum: Awaab’s Law – The New Era of Accountability will put the legislation and its practical consequences under scrutiny ahead of Phase 2 coming into force on November 30.
And Housing Executive is asking the wider social housing sector to help shape the debate, with a new survey inviting housing professionals to share their experiences of Awaab’s Law, how prepared they believe the sector is for Phase 2 and where the biggest challenges remain.
TAKE THE HOUSING EXECUTIVE AWAAB’S LAW SURVEY
The findings will be taken directly into the September forum, helping inform the questions put to a panel of senior figures with expertise spanning housing technology, repairs and maintenance, drainage and property damage.
Already confirmed for the discussion are Plentific, the property operations platform connecting landlords, property managers, contractors and residents; London Drainage Facilities, which provides reactive and planned drainage and plumbing services; Cornerstone Ltd, a specialist in investigating and managing property damage, damp and structural issues; and public sector technology and digital services provider Made Tech.
Further participants will be announced ahead of the September forum.
Darren Hayes, Head of Partnerships at Housing Executive, said: “Awaab’s Law has already fundamentally changed the expectations placed on social landlords, but Phase 2 takes that considerably further.
“We want to bring together people approaching this from different parts of the housing ecosystem – landlords, technology, repairs, contractors and specialists dealing with these problems on the ground – and have a genuinely useful discussion about where the sector is, what it has learned from Phase 1 and where the pressure points remain.
“But we also want the wider sector involved. The survey gives people dealing with these issues every day an opportunity to tell us where the challenges really are and what they want to hear discussed. We can then take that directly into the room.”
The discussion comes at a critical point in the implementation of Awaab’s Law. Named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 following prolonged exposure to mould in his Rochdale home, the law introduced legally enforceable requirements governing how quickly social landlords in England must investigate and address hazards in tenants’ homes.
Phase 1 came into force on October 27, 2025, covering all emergency hazards and damp and mould hazards presenting a significant risk of harm. Emergency hazards must be investigated and made safe as soon as reasonably practicable and within 24 hours.
But from November 30 this year, the scope widens significantly. Phase 2 extends the requirements for significant hazards beyond damp and mould to include excess cold and heat, falls, structural collapse, fire, electrical hazards, explosions and hygiene hazards, including issues around pests, refuse, food safety, sanitation and drainage.
A third phase is planned for 2027, when the requirements will extend to the remaining hazards covered by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, with the exception of overcrowding.
The phased implementation is intended to allow the government and sector to “test and learn” as the legislation develops. Research into the experience of Phase 1 has already been used to inform the rules and guidance for Phase 2, including new guidance intended to help landlords triage hazards.
For landlords, however, the November expansion raises pressing questions about whether existing repairs systems, contractor networks, data, technology and internal processes are equipped to identify and respond to a much broader range of hazards within statutory timescales.
Housing Executive wants to hear from those working across the sector about those challenges. Its Awaab’s Law survey will explore preparedness for Phase 2, experiences of the legislation so far, operational pressure points and where respondents believe the greatest risks remain.
HAVE YOUR SAY: TAKE THE HOUSING EXECUTIVE AWAAB’S LAW SURVEY
The findings will help set the agenda when participants sit down around the table in September.
The forum forms part of Housing Executive’s newly launched Senior Leaders Forum series, which has been created to move beyond the traditional industry roundtable by combining challenging editorial discussion with professional filming, production and wider digital distribution.
Karl Holbrook, Housing Executive Editorial Consultant and former national newspaper editor, said: “There is an obvious moral purpose behind Awaab’s Law, but making it work consistently across thousands of homes creates some very practical and difficult questions.
“How does a landlord know quickly enough that a problem represents a serious hazard? Does the information reported by a resident reach the right person? Do different systems talk to each other? Is there sufficient contractor capacity to respond? And what happens when several different organisations are involved in diagnosing and fixing the same problem?
“Phase 2 broadens the scope considerably, so this feels like exactly the right moment to ask what Phase 1 has taught us and whether the sector is genuinely ready for what comes next.
“The intention isn’t to spend an hour explaining the legislation. We want to get into where implementation becomes difficult, what is working, what isn’t and what landlords and their partners need to be doing differently before November 30.
“And the survey means we’re not deciding those questions in isolation. If hundreds of people working across housing tell us a particular issue is keeping them awake at night, that’s something I’m going to want to put to the people around the table.”
Nick Fellows, Managing Director of Crosby Media Associates, publisher of Housing Executive, said: “The Senior Leaders Forum was created for issues exactly like this.
“Awaab’s Law isn’t an abstract policy discussion. It affects how landlords operate, how contractors respond and, most importantly, the conditions residents live in.
“Bringing together expertise from different parts of that chain gives us an opportunity to explore the practical consequences rather than looking at the issue from one perspective.
“And by asking the wider sector for its views beforehand, we can make sure the discussion reflects the questions and concerns housing professionals are dealing with right now.”
The September event will be professionally filmed and edited, with the discussion and supporting content distributed through Housing Executive’s digital channels.
It is one of a series of Senior Leaders Forums planned across 2026 and 2027 tackling some of the biggest challenges facing social housing, from building safety and net zero to housing data, technology, tenant voice and the future of housing management.
Have your say: Housing professionals can help shape the September discussion by completing the Housing Executive Awaab’s Law survey.
Organisations and senior leaders interested in participating in the forum can contact Darren Hayes at Darren.hayes@crosbyassociates.co.uk.
