A new law came into place on 27 October 2025 to help protect social housing tenants.
Under Awaab’s Law, landlords must investigate emergency hazards and make your home safe within 24 hours. For damp and mould hazards, landlords must investigate within 10 working days and make your home safe within a further 5 working days. Landlords must provide a written summary to tenants within 3 working days of completing the investigation. If repairs can’t begin within these timeframes, works must begin within 12 weeks. And where appropriate, alternative accommodation will be offered at the landlord’s expense.
Living in hazardous conditions, like damp and mould, can impact your health and wellbeing. The new law means that landlords must investigate and fix issues faster, helping to keep you safe. This new law covers emergency hazards, like dangerous electrical faults, damaged external doors or windows and major leaks, as well as all damp and mould hazards.
Reporting signs of condensation, damp, and mould early, helps us to identify and rectify issues, to keep you safe in your home. Some residents, including young children and people with some health conditions, such as respiratory issues or immune deficiencies are potentially more vulnerable and at greater risk because of damp and mould.
Your health and home matter. If you have condensation, damp, and mould, help us keep homes safe. Report problems as soon as you notice them - early action prevents damage and health risks.
Report issues with your home, including damp and mould by contacting our Customer Services Team or via myHome.
More information on the types of repairs the council is responsible for and timeframes:
Housing repairs and maintenance
East Suffolk Damp and Mould Policy
It is our responsibility to fix any hazards in your home. But we need you to help us:
East Suffolk Council takes reports of damp and mould by our tenants very seriously. If you report an issue with damp and mould, we will send an inspector to assess the situation and use appropriate measures to deal with the issue. There are multiple ways you can report a damp and mould issue or request a repair:
Following a report of damp and mould, or an emergency hazard, each case will be triaged. This will allow us to determine the severity and timescales to complete an inspection. Following an inspection, a report will be shared with the tenant, and any remedial works scheduled - this will include a damp and mould wash to remove or reduce the hazard.
Depending on the severity, inspections will be completed within 24 hrs (emergency hazards) / 10 working days (significant hazards)
A written report will be shared with the tenant within 3 working days of the inspection
If an emergency hazard is identified then it will be resolved to a safe level within 24 hours.
If steps cannot be taken to begin work within 5 working days, we will physically start work within 12 weeks.
If your home cannot be made safe within the set timeframes, we will provide alternative suitable temporary accommodation at our cost, until the repairs are complete in your home.
From 27 October 2025, social landlords will have to address all emergency hazards, and damp and mould hazards that present emergency or significant risk of harm to tenants.
These hazards will have to be dealt with in fixed timeframes.
In 2026 the law will extend regulations to include the following hazards where they present a significant risk of harm:
In 2027 the law we will extend regulations to all remaining HHSRS hazards (apart from overcrowding) where they present a significant risk of harm.
The HHSRS is a risk-based evaluation tool to help local authorities, like East Suffolk Council, identify and protect against potential risks and hazards to health and safety from any deficiencies identified in dwellings.