Awaab's Law Phase 2 Is Here: What It Means for Landlords
Awaab's Law Phase 2 expands emergency landlord duties to include excess heat with a 24-hour response requirement. Practical guidance on immediate steps, documentation and how professional testing creates defensible evidence.
Awaab's Law Phase 2 adds excessive indoor heat to the rapid-response duties for social landlords. Building on the October 2025 measures for damp and mould, Phase 2 places a 24-hour duty to act where tenants report dangerous temperatures. Measurement, clear record-keeping and proportionate mitigation turn a complaint into defensible evidence for housing authorities and tribunals.
What Phase 2 requires landlords to do
Phase 2 treats excess indoor heat as an emergency hazard requiring a prompt, documented response. Landlords must:
- acknowledge and triage tenant reports within the required timeframe;
- complete an initial risk assessment and provide immediate mitigations where necessary;
- arrange inspection and measurement to determine cause and severity; and
- record actions taken and planned remedial work so evidence can be produced for regulators or tribunals.
This duty sits alongside established enforcement tools such as the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. Public health guidance identifies older people, very young children and people with chronic conditions as particularly vulnerable to high indoor temperatures; landlords should factor vulnerability into prioritisation.
Practical steps for landlords and providers
Immediate, practical responses reduce harm and create a clear audit trail. A straightforward workflow is:
- Record the report: log date, time, address, tenant details and any described symptoms or health impacts.
- Provide temporary mitigations: advise on shading, ventilation and arranging cooler sleeping locations; document any equipment supplied and the rationale.
- Inspect: check for causes such as poor ventilation, solar gain, ineffective controls, insulation gaps or recent works that restrict airflow.
- Measure: deploy calibrated temperature sensors to capture peak daytime and night-time conditions; note sensor locations and external weather context.
- Plan remediation: identify short-term fixes (ventilation, shading, control adjustments) and longer-term works (fabric improvements, external shading, HVAC changes) and schedule them with recorded timescales.
Time-stamped records at each stage demonstrate compliance with the 24-hour duty and show proportionate action if the case is reviewed.
How testing provides defensible evidence
Measurement converts anecdote into verifiable evidence. Professional testing should show whether temperatures breached thresholds, how long conditions persisted and what factors contributed.
- Why it matters: continuous monitoring over several days captures daily peaks and night-time cooling in a way spot checks cannot.
- What to measure: calibrated air temperature sensors, surface temperatures where relevant, and humidity if condensation is suspected; thermal imaging and HVAC performance checks add diagnostic value in complex cases.
- Reporting essentials: state methods, sensor calibration, deployment locations, time-series data, interpretation and recommended remedial actions in plain language.
- Professional independence: independent, accredited testing strengthens credibility and avoids perceived conflicts of interest.
Our laboratory conducts short-term monitoring, thermal surveys and formal technical reports that clearly explain methods, calibration and interpretation and link remedial priorities to tenant safety.
Key takeaways and next steps
Phase 2 of Awaab's Law brings excess heat into the 24-hour emergency-hazard framework. Landlords should adopt a documented workflow: log reports, provide immediate mitigations, inspect and measure, then plan remedial work. Measurement and independent reporting create the defensible evidence needed to show compliance.
Immediate actions for housing teams:
- review complaint and response procedures to ensure 24-hour triage for excess heat;
- equip staff with a checklist of temporary mitigations to offer tenants; and
- where temperatures are likely to be elevated or occupants are vulnerable, arrange calibrated monitoring and a formal technical report to establish a defensible record.
Accurate measurement and clear records reduce risk, support proportionate remediation and provide confidence in regulatory or legal scrutiny.