Awaab's Law is coming to Scotland. Here's what it means for your repairs.
Fixed statutory timescales for damp and mould, backed by evidence, and a repairs partner already built for it.
A legal duty to act on hazards, not just a policy to aim for.
Awaab's Law is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his family's social housing home. It was introduced through the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, and in England took effect from 27 October 2025 as the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025.
Rather than leaving "reasonable time" to interpretation, it sets fixed statutory deadlines for investigating and fixing hazards, starting with emergency repairs and significant damp and mould, with further hazards phased in from 2026 and 2027. Breaching the timescales becomes a breach of the tenancy agreement itself, giving tenants a direct legal route to hold landlords to account.
6 October 2026, and wider than England's first phase.
Scotland is introducing its own equivalent through the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations, expected to take effect on 6 October 2026. It amends the Repairing Standard so homes must be "substantially free from damp and mould," with fixed statutory deadlines for investigation and repair.
Notably, Scotland's version is expected to apply to both social and private tenancies from the outset, broader than England's initial social-only scope, sitting alongside existing duties under the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and Scotland's Tolerable Standard.
[Confirm the final commencement date and scope against the Regulations as passed by the Scottish Parliament before publishing.]
Four fixed clocks, all running from the moment a hazard is reported.
Emergency hazards made safe within 24 hours of being reported.
Investigation deadline
10 working days to investigate a reported significant hazard such as damp or mould.
Written summary
3 working days after the investigation to give tenants written findings and next steps.
Begin repair
5 working days from the investigation to start safety work where a hazard is confirmed.
Timescales shown reflect Phase 1 of England's Regulations and the equivalent Scottish proposals. [Confirm final figures against the Scottish Regulations before publishing; dates and periods may be revised before commencement.]
Compliance is a paperwork problem as much as a repairs one. We built for both.
Meeting Awaab's Law timescales means moving fast and proving you moved fast. Our own AI claims intelligence platform, Fixzy, was built from three decades of reinstatement data, and it's the same technology behind our damp and mould surveys.
Evidence from first visit
Computer vision and LiDAR capture damage, damp readings and cause at the point of survey, automatically labelled and timestamped, not written up later from memory.
Written summaries you can send
Findings are structured and reportable from day one, so the 3-working-day written summary is an export, not a scramble.
Mobilised to move fast
Directly employed trades and a 24/7 emergency division mean the 24-hour and 10-day clocks are met by capacity we control, not a subcontractor's availability.
An audit trail, not a filing cabinet
Every case, from investigation to summary, repair and sign-off, is timestamped and evidenced, ready to show your regulator or board on request.
Let's check your repairs process against the clock.
Tell us about your stock and current damp and mould process, and we'll talk through where Firstcall can close the gap before commencement. Prefer to talk now?
0131 285 7150