What should a landlord record for an Awaab’s Law repair?.

Use this list to look at your own records. Awaab’s Law sets fixed times for investigating and acting on emergency hazards, and on damp and mould hazards in social homes. A landlord that can show the date of each step is better placed to explain what happened if it is asked. Where an item below links to a regulation, the regulation is where the time or the duty comes from.

1. The report

• Is the date and time you became aware of the problem recorded, with the way it reached you (telephone, email, form, a visit, a member of staff)? (Regulations 5 and 6 (opens in a new tab) start their times when the landlord becomes aware of an issue of concern.)
• Is what the tenant said recorded in their own words, with any photographs or other material they sent?
• Is it recorded if the tenant asked for a physical inspection, and when? (Regulation 6 (opens in a new tab) provides for an inspection if the tenant asks before the investigation is completed.)
• Is what you know about the household’s health and circumstances recorded, where the tenant has chosen to share it? (Regulation 3 (opens in a new tab) refers to the knowledge a landlord has, or ought to have, about the occupier’s health and circumstances.)

2. The triage decision

• Is it recorded whether you treated the report as a possible emergency hazard, and why?
• Is the name of the person who made that decision, and the time, recorded?
• Where a deadline was set from the decision, are the date and how it was calculated recorded?

3. The investigation

• Is the date the investigation started and the date it was completed recorded? (Regulation 6 (opens in a new tab) gives 10 working days for a standard investigation.)
• Is it recorded who carried it out, and why you considered them competent? (Regulation 2 (opens in a new tab) defines a competent investigator by the landlord’s reasonable opinion.)
• Is it recorded whether the investigation included a physical inspection?
• Is the root cause recorded, as well as the symptom? (The GOV.UK guidance (opens in a new tab) says the landlord is responsible for addressing the root cause of a hazard caused by a structural defect or deficiency.)
• Are photographs or other evidence of the condition on the record, with the date they were taken?
• Is it recorded whether a further investigation was needed, and when it was completed? (Regulation 8 (opens in a new tab).)

4. Severity

• Is it recorded whether the investigation found a significant hazard, an emergency hazard or neither? (Regulation 3 (opens in a new tab).)
• Is it recorded who confirmed that, and when? Where a system or a template suggested a rating, is it clear a person confirmed it?
• If the severity was changed later, are the earlier rating, the new one, the reason and the person recorded?

5. Deadlines

• Are the deadlines for the case recorded with the date each was calculated and the rule it came from?
• Are working days counted the way the Regulations count them? (Regulation 2 (opens in a new tab) excludes weekends, Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays.)
• Is it recorded when each step was actually done, next to its deadline?

6. The remediation

• Is the work required written down, separating work to make the home safe from work to stop the hazard coming back? (Regulation 4 (opens in a new tab) defines required work.)
• Where the Regulations allow a longer time, is the reason recorded? (Regulation 13 (opens in a new tab) covers supplementary preventative work.)
• Is the target date to begin and to complete the work recorded?

7. The contractor

• Is the contractor named, with the date you offered the job and the date they accepted?
• Is it recorded what you checked about the contractor before the job, such as registration and insurance? The contractor credentials checklist lists what may be worth checking.
• Are the dates the work began and ended recorded?

8. Completion evidence

• Are before and after photographs on the record, taken of the same place?
• Is there a note from the contractor of what was done, and which items of the required work it covers?
• Is it recorded who confirmed the work was complete, and when?

9. The re-survey and closure

• Was the work checked by a person, after it was done? Is it recorded who, when, and what they found?
• Is it recorded if the check found the work incomplete, and what happened next?
• Is the date the case was closed recorded, with the reason?

10. Communications with the tenant

• Was the tenant given a written summary of the investigation, and is the time it was given recorded? (Regulations 9 and 10 (opens in a new tab). The template follows them.)
• Is the text of what you gave the tenant kept, as well as the fact that you gave it?
• Where the tenant had to move out for a time, is the arrangement recorded, and is the safety advice given to them recorded? (Regulations 16 and 17 (opens in a new tab).)
• Are your updates to the tenant on the timing and progress of the work recorded, with the date and the way you told them? (Regulation 14 (opens in a new tab).)
• Is it recorded that the tenant was told when the work was complete?

11. How the record is kept

• Can each entry be traced to a person and a time?
• If an entry is corrected, does the earlier entry stay visible?
• Can the whole record for one home be produced in one place when someone asks for it?

This page is general information, not legal advice. A complete record may help show what happened. It does not show that a landlord has complied with the law. Check the Regulations and the GOV.UK guidance for what applies to your case.

Zaviira Assure is one way to keep a record like this. It is built and tested end to end for damp and mould. Other hazards are in development or planned. The Assure page has more.

Sources

1. The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/1042 (legislation.gov.uk)
2. Awaab’s Law: guidance for social landlords, Phase 2 (GOV.UK)
3. Housing Ombudsman Service

General information, not legal advice. Check the primary source before relying on any statement, and take advice from a housing lawyer on your own position. Last reviewed 22 October 2026.