With Phase Two of Awaab’s Law soon to become legally enforceable, here Jack Essen, head of sales – mid market, at Trimble explores how the compliance challenge is as much about data and evidence as it is about the physical delivery of maintenance. 

Awaab’s Law first came into effect on 27th October 2025 – a legislation put in place to ensure housing landlords are efficiently fixing reported damp, mould and emergency safety hazards within a given timeframe. This comes after the tragic death of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak and a series of severe reports and complaints from individuals forced to live in hazardous conditions, with the law placing key expectations on landlords to mitigate these potentially devastating issues. Split into phases, phase one saw the focus on damp and mould, with extensions of the law continuing to be introduced over the coming years.

The Next Step – What is Phase Two? 

The new requirements set to be introduced in November 2026 in the second phase of Awaab’s Law have been described by the UK Government as “putting the tenants first”, with regulations now expanding to cover seven additional hazard safety issues – including fire safety and excess cold. Under these new regulations, social landlords and local authorities will be required to investigate hazards that present an immediate danger and commit to making them safe within 24 hours. 

Landlords will face legally binding deadlines and would be required to carry out investigations within 10 working days if a fire-related concern was considered serious yet didn’t pose an immediate risk. After investigation, a written summary of the findings and proposed actions must then be sent to the tenant within three working days. Urgent safety works are to be carried out and completed within five working days of the investigation, while longer-term remedial works must commence within 12 weeks. 

Phase Two offers new challenges to landlords and associations, with responsibilities not only expected to cover the identification of hazards but also demonstrate how reports are triaged correctly within the enforced response time and resolved effectively. What’s more, recent research from Housemark reveals that only 4% of social landlords felt “very prepared” for Phase Two, highlighting a clear confidence gap in the sector. It once again raises questions over how landlords can prove compliance. 

Mastering compliance with a clear audit trail

There is no denying that Awaab’s Law adds further responsibility, especially to those local authority housing teams who are already managing ageing stock, limited budgets and multiple regulations. However, it does also provide the opportunity to modernise. Many still rely on paper-based inspections, spreadsheets and fragmented contractor systems, making it difficult to build a single view of compliance. This becomes particularly evident when there are different teams logging data in different ways, or when records need to be retrieved months, even years later. 

With the new framework about to be implemented and enforced, it is clear that a shift from reactive to more evidence-led maintenance is needed. In order to create a clear audit trail across everyone involved in managing and maintaining homes, data consistency and connected systems are essential.

How will digital technology help?

As the industry and regulations continue to evolve, manual methods of recording information like paper-based systems, excel spreadsheets and generic cloud-storage increasingly fall short, not meeting expectations set. These methods provide no clear sequence or workflow to follow, meaning it can be easy for gaps to appear in information collected or data to be lost entirely. With lengthy and time-consuming processes, lack of traceability and no clear audit trails, as required for proof of compliance, it is essential to update the process. 

Already used extensively to manage quality, safety and handover processes across the wider built environment are digital information management platforms (like Trimble Field View and Trimble ProjectSight). The goal should be to integrate and optimise what already works. Many of these same systems can be configured to support Awaab’s Law compliance, without introducing another layer of complexity or software. 

To ensure efficiency and seamless workflow, on-site usability is equally important. A good system should allow site teams to log details directly into digital forms, capturing and tagging issues. This can include the issue type, its location and severity using a RAG status (Red-Amber-Green), the responsible contractor or work package, and photographic and GPS evidence. The most effective tools will provide clear visual context, enabling issues to be linked to 2D plans, 3D models or 360o images, (videos can also be captured). If a complaint later escalates, those time-stamped images form defensible evidence. This protects both the landlord and tenant by establishing what was observed and when and demonstrates whether a problem was properly addressed. 

Compliance isn’t just about capturing today’s repair; data longevity is another significant consideration. It is essential that records are not vague or fail to provide access to interpret data years down the line. Housing providers will need systems that not only store files but also the associated decision-making history – for example, who made what call, when and on what evidence. 

Reinstating confidence 

Recognising the importance of acknowledging and acting upon residents’ concerns is at the core of Awaab’s Law. While it may have sadly originated from tragedy, it is there to build a safer and more transparent housing system. For social landlords and local authorities, that means a move beyond reactive repair and towards measurable accountability, where every inspection, decision and repair is captured, evidenced and auditable. 

Made possible by digital tools, compliance can be transformed from a disconnected system into a process of continuous assurance.