Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law for Private Landlords in England

Until now, the Decent Homes Standard applied only to social housing. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 changes that. Parts 4 and 5 of the Act give the government statutory power to extend both the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law — strict repair timelines for health hazards — into the private rented sector in England.

What the Decent Homes Standard Requires

The standard sets a legal baseline for rental property quality. A home meets the standard when it satisfies four criteria:

1. Free from Category 1 hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) — no serious risks to health or safety from the 29 prescribed hazards (damp, excess cold, falls, fire, electrical faults and so on)
2. In a reasonable state of repair — the structure, roof, windows, heating and plumbing are all functional and not seriously deteriorated
3. Reasonably modern facilities — a kitchen and bathroom that are not dangerously outdated (under older social housing benchmarks, kitchens over 20 years and bathrooms over 30 years old were treated as outdated; the updated private-rented rules are still pending)
4. Reasonable thermal comfort — effective insulation and efficient heating for the size of the property

For social landlords these criteria have been mandatory for years. For private landlords, they become a statutory requirement once the secondary regulations are in force.

What Awaab's Law Means for Private Landlords

Awaab's Law is named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died in December 2020 from prolonged exposure to mould in a social housing property in Rochdale. The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 first imposed strict repair timelines on social landlords. The Renters' Rights Act extends the same principle to the private sector.

Once the regulations are active, private landlords will face prescribed response windows for reported damp, mould and structural hazards that risk tenant health. Social-housing examples include emergency hazards addressed within 24 hours and hazard investigations within 14 days of a written report; these are not yet deadlines for private landlords. The exact private-rental timelines will be set in secondary legislation. But the principle is clear: the days of sitting on a damp complaint for months are numbered.

When Does This Take Effect

Both the Decent Homes Standard extension and Awaab's Law for the private sector fall under Phase 3 of the Act's implementation, currently targeted at 2027–2028 and beyond. Technical consultation is still ongoing. No statutory commencement date has been fixed.

This does not mean you can ignore property standards today. Existing duties under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (structural repair), the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 and the HHSRS enforcement powers in the Housing Act 2004 are already in force. Local housing authorities can already serve improvement notices, prohibition orders and civil penalties for hazardous conditions. The new standards add a clearer baseline and tighter timelines — they do not create obligations from scratch.

How to Prepare

Start with the property itself. Walk through each room with the HHSRS hazard categories in mind: damp, excess cold, falls on stairs, fire, electrical safety, carbon monoxide. If you can see a problem, a local authority inspector can too.

Specific steps that pay for themselves before the Decent Homes deadline arrives:

• Commission an EICR if the current one is more than five years old — the five-year legal cycle means you might be scheduling one anyway
• Check the EPC rating — properties rated F or G generally cannot be let under MEES unless a valid exemption applies, and the government has signalled tighter thresholds ahead
• Address damp and ventilation proactively — the cost of a dehumidifier, extractor fan or mould treatment now is a fraction of the penalty later
• Document every repair with dated photos and receipts — if Awaab's Law timelines are as tight as the social housing version, you will need to prove when you acted

The Renters' Rights Act for Landlords guide maps the safety certificate cycle (gas, electrical, EPC) alongside the Decent Homes timeline, giving you a single compliance calendar that covers both existing duties and the incoming standards.

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