Does Awaab's Law Apply in Scotland and Wales?

Introduction: A Common Misconception

Since the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 received Royal Assent, one of the most frequent questions we receive from landlords, property managers, and tenants across the United Kingdom is whether Awaab's Law applies outside of England. The short answer is no — Awaab's Law, formally Section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, is an England-specific piece of legislation. Housing is a devolved matter, which means that Scotland and Wales each have their own legislative frameworks governing landlord obligations around property conditions, damp, mould, and tenant safety.

That said, it would be a serious mistake for landlords operating in Scotland or Wales to assume that the absence of Awaab's Law means the absence of obligations. Both nations have robust legal frameworks that impose broadly similar duties on landlords — and in some areas, these frameworks are arguably more demanding than the English regime. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how damp and mould obligations work across all three nations, so you can be confident that your properties meet the required standard regardless of where they are located.

What Awaab's Law Actually Does in England

Before examining the Scottish and Welsh regimes, it is worth briefly summarising what Awaab's Law requires in England. Named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy who tragically died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his family's housing association flat in Rochdale, the law imposes specific time limits on registered providers of social housing when dealing with hazards — most notably damp and mould.

Under Awaab's Law, social housing landlords in England must respond to emergency hazards within 24 hours, carry out a full investigation and provide a written remediation action plan within 10 working days of receiving a report, and complete all remediation works within 12 weeks. Failure to comply can result in enforcement action by the Regulator of Social Housing, including Regulatory Notices, financial penalties, and potential intervention in the management of the landlord's housing stock.

Phase 1, which came into force in October 2025, covers damp and mould specifically. Phase 2, expected to commence in October 2026, will extend the regime to additional hazard categories. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 also contains provisions to extend similar obligations to the private rented sector in England, though the precise commencement date for private landlords has not yet been confirmed.

Scotland: The Repairing Standard & EESSH2

Scotland has its own well-established framework for ensuring that rented properties are maintained to an acceptable standard. The primary piece of legislation is the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, which introduced the Repairing Standard — a statutory minimum standard that all private and social rented properties must meet throughout the duration of a tenancy.

The Repairing Standard

The Repairing Standard requires that a property must be wind and watertight and in all other respects reasonably fit for human habitation. It must have the structure and exterior of the house (including drains, gutters, and external pipes) in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order. The installations in the house for the supply of water, gas, and electricity, and for sanitation, space heating, and heating water must be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order. Any fixtures, fittings, and appliances provided by the landlord must also be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order.

Crucially, the Repairing Standard was amended by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 and further strengthened through subsequent regulations. Since March 2024, the standard explicitly requires landlords to ensure that properties have safe and effective installations for detecting and warning of fire and carbon monoxide, and that the property meets the tolerable standard set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. This tolerable standard specifically addresses dampness — a house that is substantially affected by rising or penetrating damp fails the tolerable standard and is therefore below the Repairing Standard.

While the Scottish legislation does not impose the same prescriptive 24-hour, 10-day, and 12-week deadlines found in Awaab's Law, the practical effect is similar: landlords must address dampness and mould promptly, and a failure to do so means the property does not meet the statutory minimum standard. The obligation is continuous — landlords must maintain the Repairing Standard throughout the entire tenancy, not merely at the point of let.

EESSH2: Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing

Social housing landlords in Scotland face an additional layer of obligation through the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing 2 (EESSH2). This standard, set by the Scottish Government, requires social landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock progressively, with the aim that all social housing meets a minimum energy efficiency rating by 2032. While EESSH2 is primarily an energy efficiency measure, improving a property's thermal performance, ventilation, and insulation directly reduces the risk of condensation, damp, and mould. Social landlords who fail to invest in energy efficiency improvements may therefore find that their properties are more susceptible to damp and mould problems — and more likely to fall below the Repairing Standard.

Enforcement in Scotland: The Scottish Housing Regulator & First-Tier Tribunal

The Scottish Housing Regulator is the independent regulator of registered social landlords (housing associations and local authority housing) in Scotland. It monitors and assesses the performance of social landlords, publishes annual reports, and can intervene where a landlord is failing to meet its statutory obligations. If a social landlord is consistently failing to maintain properties to the Repairing Standard, the Scottish Housing Regulator has the power to require improvement plans, appoint managers, and — in extreme cases — transfer the management of housing stock to another body.

For tenants in the private rented sector, the primary enforcement mechanism is the First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber). If a private tenant believes their landlord has failed to meet the Repairing Standard, they can apply to the Tribunal for a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order (RSEO). The Tribunal has the power to require the landlord to carry out specific repairs within a specified time period. Failure to comply with an RSEO is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution and a fine.

Tenant Rights in Scotland

Scottish tenants have several important rights when it comes to damp and mould. They can apply directly to the First-Tier Tribunal for a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order without needing to go through a court process. They cannot be evicted in retaliation for making a complaint about property conditions — the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 provides strong protections against retaliatory eviction. Social housing tenants can also complain to the Scottish Housing Regulator or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman if their landlord fails to act. In addition, the Scottish Government's Right to Repair scheme allows tenants to arrange for certain qualifying repairs to be carried out if the landlord fails to do so within a specified time, with the cost deducted from their rent.

Wales: The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016

Wales introduced a fundamentally reformed renting framework through the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, which came fully into force on 1 December 2022. This Act replaced the previous patchwork of tenancy law (including most of the Housing Act 1988 and Housing Act 1985 as they applied in Wales) with a single, unified system of occupation contracts. It is one of the most significant pieces of housing legislation in the UK in recent decades, and it has important implications for how damp and mould obligations work in Wales.

Fitness for Human Habitation

At the heart of the Welsh regime is the requirement that all rental properties must be fit for human habitation. Section 91 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 implies a term into every occupation contract (the Welsh equivalent of a tenancy agreement) that the landlord must ensure the dwelling is fit for human habitation at the start of the contract and throughout its duration. This is a non-excludable implied term — it cannot be overridden by anything in the written contract.

The fitness for human habitation standard is assessed by reference to a number of factors, including whether the property is free from damp, whether it has adequate ventilation and heating, and whether the structure and exterior are in good repair. A property that suffers from significant damp or mould is very likely to fail the fitness for human habitation test. This places an ongoing, non-delegable duty on the landlord to keep the property free from hazardous levels of damp and mould.

It is worth noting that this fitness requirement applies to all rented properties in Wales — both social and private. This is in contrast to England, where Awaab's Law currently applies only to social housing (although the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is expected to extend similar provisions to the private sector). Welsh private landlords therefore already face a statutory obligation that many English private landlords do not yet have.

The 29 Matters of Fitness

The Welsh Government has published regulations (the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022) that specify 29 individual matters which must be considered when assessing whether a dwelling is fit for human habitation. These include damp, mould, excess cold, ventilation, water supply, drainage, natural lighting, and structural stability, among others. The regulations adopt a hazard-based approach similar to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) used in England, and they require an assessment of both the likelihood and severity of potential harm.

For damp and mould specifically, the assessment considers whether the dwelling is affected by rising damp, penetrating damp, or condensation damp, the extent and severity of any mould growth, and whether the damp or mould is likely to cause harm to the health of the occupants. A dwelling that fails on any of the 29 matters is not fit for human habitation, and the landlord is in breach of the implied term of the occupation contract.

Enforcement in Wales: Rent Smart Wales & the Courts

In Wales, all private landlords must be registered with Rent Smart Wales, and all agents who let and manage properties on behalf of landlords must be licensed. Rent Smart Wales is the licensing authority and has the power to refuse to register or license landlords and agents who fail to meet the required standards. If a landlord persistently fails to maintain properties to the fitness for human habitation standard, Rent Smart Wales can revoke their registration, which effectively prevents them from legally letting properties in Wales.

The Welsh Government also has enforcement powers through local authority environmental health teams, which can inspect properties, serve improvement notices, and (in serious cases) make prohibition orders preventing the property from being used for residential purposes. These enforcement powers exist under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004, which still applies in Wales for this purpose.

For social housing in Wales, the Welsh Government fulfils the regulatory function (there is no separate social housing regulator equivalent to the English Regulator of Social Housing or the Scottish Housing Regulator). The Welsh Government sets regulatory standards that registered social landlords must meet, monitors compliance, and can intervene where standards are not being maintained.

Tenant Rights in Wales

Welsh tenants have strong protections under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. If a property is not fit for human habitation, the contract holder (tenant) can withhold rent, carry out repairs and deduct the cost from rent in some circumstances, or apply to the court for a declaration that the landlord is in breach of the fitness term. The Act also provides robust protections against retaliatory eviction — a landlord cannot serve a notice to end the contract within six months of the tenant making a complaint about the condition of the property. In addition, the contract holder can raise a complaint with Rent Smart Wales, which can take enforcement action against the landlord's registration.

Comparing the Three Nations

Although the specific legislation differs across England, Scotland, and Wales, the practical obligations on landlords are broadly similar in all three nations. Every landlord — whether social or private, whether operating in England, Scotland, or Wales — has a legal duty to ensure that their properties are free from hazardous levels of damp and mould. The key differences lie in the enforcement mechanisms, the specificity of the timescales, and which regulatory body has oversight.

England's Awaab's Law is distinctive in its prescriptive approach: it sets hard deadlines (24 hours, 10 working days, 12 weeks) that landlords must meet. Neither Scotland nor Wales has adopted the same approach. However, the Scottish Repairing Standard imposes a continuous obligation to maintain the property, and the Welsh fitness for human habitation requirement is arguably the broadest of the three regimes because it applies to all tenures from the outset.

In terms of enforcement, Scotland's First-Tier Tribunal system offers tenants a relatively accessible route to compel repairs without the expense and complexity of a full court action. Wales's landlord registration system through Rent Smart Wales provides a unique lever — the threat of losing the ability to let properties — that does not exist in the same form in England or Scotland. England's Regulator of Social Housing has significant powers over social landlords but (until the Renters' Rights Act provisions are fully commenced) has limited reach into the private sector.

What This Means for Landlords Operating Across Borders

If you are a landlord or housing provider with properties in more than one nation, you need to be aware that the obligations in each jurisdiction may differ in detail even though the overarching principle — keep properties safe and free from harmful damp and mould — is the same. You cannot assume that compliance with Awaab's Law in England means compliance in Scotland or Wales, or vice versa.

Our recommendation is to adopt the most demanding standard across all of your properties. In practice, this means following Awaab's Law timescales (24 hours for emergencies, 10 working days for investigation, 12 weeks for completion) as best practice even in Scotland and Wales, while also ensuring that you meet the specific requirements of the Repairing Standard or fitness for human habitation standard as applicable. This approach protects your tenants, reduces your legal risk, and positions your organisation well for any future tightening of the rules in devolved jurisdictions.

Key Takeaways

• Awaab's Law (Section 42, Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023) applies to England only.
• Scotland's Repairing Standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 imposes a continuous duty to keep properties free from dampness and in a reasonable state of repair.
• Wales's Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 requires all rented properties — both social and private — to be fit for human habitation, with damp and mould being explicit assessment criteria.
• Enforcement bodies differ: the Regulator of Social Housing in England, the Scottish Housing Regulator and First-Tier Tribunal in Scotland, and Rent Smart Wales and local authority environmental health teams in Wales.
• Broadly similar obligations exist across all three nations, even though the specific legislation, timescales, and enforcement mechanisms differ.
• Landlords operating across borders should adopt Awaab's Law timescales as best practice in all jurisdictions.