Awaab’s Law — what social landlords must build into their development agreements

The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025 — commonly referred to as ‘Awaab’s Law’ — were introduced on 27 October 2025 following the tragic death of two‑year‑old Awaab Ishak in 2020 as a result of exposure to damp and mould in his home. The regulations are intended to provide a legal framework to hold social landlords accountable for hazardous conditions present in their tenanted units, including new‑build properties.

Awaab’s Law has significant implications for how social landlords structure their development agreements and manage relationships with developers, contractors and warranty providers as a result. By implying terms into tenancy agreements that require hazards to be investigated and made safe within strict statutory timeframes, the regulations place non‑delegable obligations on social landlords — obligations that apply regardless of any contractual arrangements that they may have in place with third parties.

Here, Ellen Hawthorne from our housing and communities team explores how these statutory duties interact with development agreements and what social landlords need to consider going forward.

Statutory deadlines for responding to hazards

For a potential ‘emergency’ hazard, social landlords must investigate and — if confirmed — carry out works to make the hazard safe within 24 hours of becoming aware of it. For a potential ‘significant’ hazard, the landlord must investigate within ten working days and make it safe within five working days of the investigation concluding. 

If the required works can’t be completed within these timescales, social landlords must offer tenants suitable alternative accommodation at their own expense. They must also provide tenants with a written summary of their investigation within three working days of its conclusion and keep them updated and informed throughout the process.

How will Awaab’s Law affect development agreements? 

These statutory deadlines have direct implications for development agreements. Agreements for new-build properties typically include a defects liability period of 12 or 24 months following practical completion and often set out how defects should be categorised, reported and addressed. However, the requirements imposed by Awaab’s Law may be considerably more onerous than the contractual timeframes usually found in such agreements.

Crucially, the repair obligations introduced by Awaab’s Law remain the legal responsibility of social landlords and can’t be assigned to third parties like developers, warranty providers, managing agents or contractors. Any delay by these parties in responding to defects could place the landlord in breach of their statutory obligations. Social landlords acquiring new-build properties will therefore need to carefully consider the extent to which, if at all, these obligations can be contractually allocated in development agreements. 

Key takeaways for social landlords

Social landlords need to act now by reviewing any existing development agreements terms — and considering the terms of future ones — to ensure that they suitably address the obligations set out under Awaab’s Law.  

They may choose to retain control of addressing emergency and significant defect claims themselves and recover the costs from the developer, require developers to address only significant hazards or allow developers to handle all defects on their behalf. What matters is that the parties are clear on their respective responsibilities and that the development agreement clearly documents these arrangements. 

Talk to us

Social landlords should now take the opportunity to review their development agreements, defects processes and contractual arrangements with developers to ensure that they can meet the statutory obligations introduced by Awaab’s Law.

Our housing and communities team provides specialist support to help social landlords to navigate these requirements and put in place agreements that protect your organisations and residents.

If you need expert legal advice on managing the impact of Awaab’s Law on development agreements, you can contact us sending an email to hello@brabners.com, calling 0333 004 4488 or completing our contact form below.