Awaab’s Law Scotland Reaches Private Landlords in October.
The rest of the UK shouldn’t relax.
On 6 October 2026, Scotland becomes the first part of the UK to put statutory repair timescales on private landlords.
The Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 were approved by the Scottish Parliament at the end of March. From October they place duties on social and private landlords at the same time. Awaab’s Law Scotland has not phased this the way England did, and private landlords get no run-up to it.
If you own or manage rented property in Scotland, that is less than three months away.
What Scotland Actually Requires
The regulations for Awaab’s Law Scotland amend the Repairing Standard, which will require a property to be substantially free from damp and mould. The duties bite from the moment a landlord becomes aware that a property may be affected, whether that comes from a tenant report, an inspection, or any other route.
The Scottish sector has started calling it the 10-3-5 rule:
- 10 working days to complete an investigation
- 3 working days from the investigation concluding to give the tenant a written summary of what was found and what happens next
- 5 working days from the investigation concluding to begin any repair work identified
If circumstances outside your control stop you meeting a timescale, you have to tell the tenant about the delay and explain why.
Enforcement splits by tenure. For private landlords it runs through the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber), which can make rent relief orders. For social landlords it sits with the Scottish Housing Regulator.
None of this is a new obligation to keep property free of damp. Scottish landlords have been required to deal with damp and mould under the Repairing and Tolerable Standards for years, a point the Scottish Association of Landlords made in its submission to the Scottish Parliament. What changes in October is that the obligation gets a deadline attached to it, and the deadline starts running whether you are ready or not.
Why Scotland is the One to Watch
Everywhere else in the UK, the working assumption has been that private landlords come later. Awaab’s Law Scotland has gone a different way, and the rest of the sector will be watching October fairly closely to see how it goes.
It also means Scottish landlords and agents are the first people in the country who have to answer a question everyone else has been able to put off. When a tenant reports damp, can you show when they reported it, what you found when you looked, and how fast you moved after that?
England is not Immune, and the Dates Have Just Moved
Awaab’s Law has applied to social housing in England since 27 October 2025, under the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025. Phase 1 covered damp and mould presenting a significant risk of harm, plus all emergency hazards.
On 13 July 2026, the government confirmed that Phase 2 comes into force on 30 November 2026. It brings seven more hazard categories into scope for social landlords: electrical hazards, falls, fire and explosions, excess cold, excess heat, structural collapse and falling elements, and domestic hygiene such as pest infestations.
The timescales for those hazards mirror what social landlords already know. Immediate danger means investigate and make safe within 24 hours. Serious but not immediately dangerous means investigate within 10 working days, a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation, urgent safety work within 5 working days of it, and longer-term remedial works started within 12 weeks. The government’s impact assessment puts the cost of Phase 2 to the social housing sector at £213.6m.
Phase 3 follows in 2027, extending the same timeframes to all remaining hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, apart from overcrowding.
For England’s private rented sector, there is still no date. Section 60 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 carries the power to extend Awaab’s Law to private landlords on assured tenancies, but the detail and the start date have to be set out in regulations following a government consultation, and that consultation has not been announced. Shelter’s assessment is that it is unlikely before 2027. The Act’s main reforms went live on 1 May 2026.
No date does not mean no duty. Damp and mould are already enforceable in the private sector under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. What England’s private landlords have never had is a fixed number of days to respond in, and Awaab’s Law Scotland has just shown how quickly that can change.
Wales and Northern Ireland: Standards Without Timescales
Wales runs a different regime again. The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 and the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022, in force since 1 December 2022, require every occupation contract to include a fitness for human habitation term. Damp and mould growth is the first of 29 matters and circumstances a landlord must have regard to. Alongside it sits the Welsh Housing Quality Standard.
Those are real, enforceable obligations. What they do not include is a statutory response deadline. Wales tells you what the outcome has to be. It does not tell you how many working days you have.
Northern Ireland has no Awaab’s Law equivalent. In February 2026 the Assembly debated a motion calling on the Minister for Communities to introduce legislation along the same lines, covering both social and private rented accommodation. So far that pressure has not turned into law.
What all Four Regimes Want From You
Scottish 10-3-5 from October. English Phase 2 from November. A Welsh fitness standard with no deadline attached. An English private sector waiting on a consultation nobody has announced yet. Four regimes, four timetables, and underneath them the same demand: a history. When the problem started, when you became aware of it, what the conditions in the property were, and how quickly you moved.
Histories can only be built forwards. Nobody produces twelve months of one on the day a claim lands, however fast they move once it does. That is why “we’ll sort it when the rules are confirmed” fails as a plan, even though it sounds like a sensible one.
It is also where the difference between a record and proof starts to matter. A folder of photos, taken by the landlord or the agent working for them, is a record. It captures the moments somebody chose to capture, and the person choosing had an interest in what ended up in frame. Continuous, independent, timestamped monitoring of a property’s hygrothermal conditions does a different job. It covers the whole period rather than the bits anyone picked out, and nobody curated it.
Nobody Knows How Ready the Sector is
The Housing Ombudsman has already reported that some social landlords had no policies in place before Phase 1 came into force, and that others struggled to identify which cases Awaab’s Law even applied to. Delegates at the Housing 2026 conference heard that the sector is considerably less educated on the Phase 2 hazards than on damp and mould.
That is the sector that has had the law for nine months. Nobody has any data at all on the private sector, in any UK nation.
We think that matters, particularly for the relationship between landlords and the agents who manage for them. The statutory duty sits with the landlord. The operational reality sits with whoever picks up the phone. Whether both parties understand that the same way is an open question, and when a clock starts running, a misunderstanding about who is responsible for stopping it becomes expensive very quickly.
Help us Find Out
ResiSure is running a UK-wide survey of landlords, letting agents and property managers on readiness for Awaab’s Law.
It asks what you know about the timescales that apply to you, what you have in place already, how you usually find out a property has a problem, and whether you could evidence any of it if you had to. It takes about five minutes, and there are no right answers in it.
Findings will be published free, in full, whatever they say.
If you’d rather wait for the results, we’ll publish them here.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Awaab’s Law Scotland start?
The Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 come into force on 6 October 2026. Unlike England, they apply to private and social landlords from the same date, with no phased introduction for the private rented sector.
Does Awaab’s Law apply to private landlords in England?
Not yet. Section 60 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 gives the government power to extend it to private landlords, but the timescales and start date must be set in regulations after a consultation that has not been announced. Commentary suggests 2027 at the earliest.
What is the 10-3-5 rule?
It is the shorthand for Scotland’s new duties. Once a landlord becomes aware a property may be affected by damp or mould: investigate within 10 working days, give the tenant a written summary within 3 working days of that investigation concluding, and begin any identified repair work within 5 working days of it concluding.
What changes in England on 30 November 2026?
Phase 2 of Awaab’s Law brings seven further hazard categories into scope for social landlords: electrical hazards, falls, fire and explosions, excess cold, excess heat, structural collapse and falling elements, and domestic hygiene such as pest infestations. Phase 3 follows in 2027.
Is there an Awaab’s Law in Wales?
No. Wales requires homes to be fit for human habitation under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, with damp and mould listed among 29 matters landlords must have regard to, but it sets no statutory response timescales.
Who is responsible if a letting agent manages the property?
The statutory duty sits with the landlord, because the obligation is implied into the tenancy and the agent is not a party to it. A management agreement can allocate the work, but it does not transfer the legal duty.
Sources and further reading
- The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Awaab’s Law: guidance for social landlords (GOV.UK)
- How Awaab’s law changes the rules on hazards in social housing (Shelter England)
- Awaab’s Law learning resources (Housing Ombudsman)
- The Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Fitness of homes for human habitation: guidance for landlords (GOV.WALES)
- Dampness and mould in rented housing: what will Awaab’s law in Scotland do? (SPICe, Scottish Parliament)