Angela Rayner has announced that a Labour government would extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector if it wins the next general election.
The new rules have been proposed after Awaab Ishak died in December 2020 from prolonged exposure to mould in his home in Rochdale.
The initial plans put forward will set a stringent timeframe for social landlords to fix problems. Under the new legislation, known as Awaab’s Law, landlords would have to investigate hazards within 14 days, start repairs within a further seven days, and make emergency repairs within 24 hours.
Landlords who fail to meet the time limits may be taken to court under proposed plans.
Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, told the press: “The private rented sector has widespread problems with damp, mould and cold, driven by the poor energy efficiency of privately rented homes. It is a no-brainer to extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector and that is exactly what Labour will do.”
Awaab’s father has welcomed plans to force landlords to repair mouldy homes within 24 hours.
He wants landlords to listen to tenants’ concerns and said he hopes that the legislation will prevent other families from experiencing the death of a child.
Faisal Abdullah said: “We hope that Awaab’s Law will stop any other family going through the pain that we went through.
“Landlords need to listen to the concerns of tenants, and we support these proposals.”
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said that under the new measures, landlords will be expected to keep clear records to improve transparency for tenants, in order to avoid “dither and delay to rectify people’s homes”.
Housing secretary Michael Gove said: “Today is about stronger and more robust action against social landlords who have refused to take their basic responsibilities seriously for far too long.
“We will force them to fix their homes within strict new time limits and take immediate action to tackle dangerous damp and mould to help prevent future tragedies.”
The government is currently consulting on ‘Awaab’s law’.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has welcomed the interest of the political parties in tackling poor housing conditions but stressed that new laws alone will not solve the problem.
Louise Hosking, executive director of environmental health at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said: “We want to see more awareness and better resourcing of the crucial role played by environmental health professionals in tackling poor housing conditions in all types of tenure and thereby reducing ill health and saving lives.
“Local authorities are severely under-resourced. There is a need for sustained and predictable funding for the enforcement of housing standards – and a lot more of it.
“Poor housing imposes substantial costs on the health and care system, including costs associated with its impact on mental health.
“The regulatory framework around poor housing is already very complex and it can be hard for tenants themselves to use legal remedies. We would therefore like to see a greater focus on enabling local authorities to enforce existing legislation and will look forward to working with all the political parties on this issue.”
Will there be any private landlords left if Labour win power?
I had intended to keep one of my flats for an additional income, but not if they get in. Plans are in hand to sell the other flat already.
I shall not be voting Tory. They do not deserve to be rewarded for abject failure and squandering an eighty plus seat majority. Labour? No, I am not a turkey voting for Christmas. Limp Dumbs? No, I still have all my marbles. I shall be voting REFORM UK and no I do not see it as a wasted vote. Mind you, I tell the pollsters I am voting for one of the two main parties just to confuse them.
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I haven’t voted for years now, not since Osborne stuffed us. I spoil the paper instead to ensure someone can’t steal my vote.
I had high hopes for Reform but they have no housing policy so can’t vote for them either.
Like you I do not trust Labour one jot and whilst I generally don’t increase rents on tenants in situ, this year they are all going up as Labour will doubtless cost us more in some way or other. Unless they stop us in some way or other, I shall increase rents again every year they are in power. I have plenty of scope to do so on most of the properties.
I do however like the bit in this article where Angela Rayner is quoted using the term ‘no brainer’. Somehow those words fit well with her.
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Hope she is providing us all with builders readily on hand to comply with her time schedules. Clueless ideas that sound wonderful for tenants. What about all the needless mould caused by tenants never ventilating any room in the winter. Is this now all the Landlords fault as well?
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My mind is literally blown.
I’m no fan of politicians of any stripe, but Σ( °o°)…
The problem with the Tories is not that they squandered a huge majority but that they have systematically stripped the country of its assets and wealth for their own personal gain.
New Labour may not have been much better, but at least schools were improving, so was the NHS, so was the police, and etcetera.
The important question is where has all the money gone?
We are paying a lot of tax and the NHS is falling apart, so are schools (quite literally), the roads are in a shocking state, most local authorities are in severe deficit having had severe real term cuts to their funding from central government.
Where has all that money gone?
The Labour party certainly didn’t spend it. Why should we be scared of them?
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On the surface, Reform UK look “sensible”. Then, once you read through there ideals, you realise that what they advocate is “Little Britain for English people only” where it’s “every man (or woman) for themselves”.
This is fine if your in the top 20% but pretty horrid for absolutely everyone else. My guess would be that most people reading PIE are in that top 20% and therefore might struggle to see what it would be like for other less fortunate.
Getting rid of inheritance tax? That only makes rich people even richer. The rest of us will NEVER pay inheritance tax. Why do we keep voting for this complete BS?
It really is time that we embrace the idea of getting along with each other and looking out for one another.
Time and again it has been proven that a healthy, happy, well educated population is more productive than a downtrodden, poor, unhealthy, ill-educated one. In fact, that’s a “no-brainer”.
Why then do we keep voting for conservative (small c) ideals that have proven to be wrong over and over?
Maybe I’m getting sentimental in my old age but it really is time for a change to a society where people can thrive. That will not happen unless we escape from the ideas of “trickle down economics” (again proved to be complete BS) and other policies which have been sold to the UK population as something that benefits everyone.
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There is a significant difference regarding mould in rental properties – mould caused by tenants not ventilating the property adequately e.g. not opening windows, drying clothes indoors, cooking without the extractor on, etc and mould caused by sub-standard properties, e.g. inefficient heating, leaking roofs, broken guttering etc. How can a landlord be forced to ‘fix their home and tackle dangerous damp’ if indeed nothing needs fixing and only the tenant needs educating?!!
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Agreed. But it is very difficult to say such a thing when the person you are discussing it with can point to the case of a dead child…
I have sold, rented, managed and surveyed thousands of properties over my career. In almost all cases, the mould could be attributed to the lifestyle of the occupant because they did not take into account the nature of the property they were living in.
However, Victorian properties were originally constructed with leaky sash windows, air vents under the floors and fireplaces. They were not built with sealed over chimney *******, laminate flooring and sealed double glazed windows.
With improved insulation, the need to heat a property all day reduces, but it means that any cold spots that form because the heating is off will inevitably generate mould.
An owner-occupier will typically make every effort to keep the mould at bay. A tenant who does not understand (or care) about the causes will not.
But if the property has been improperly upgraded then whilst the immediate cause may be the lifestyle of the tenant, the underlying cause is that the property needs to be upgraded in a way that minimises the risk of condensation.
And of course the tenant should be educated (politely of course) on what they can do to make sure they are exacerbating the problem.
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Totally agree with tenants lifestyles being a major cause of damp, poor cleaning, no ventilation, drying clothes indoors, not using extractors, etc.
How is this my problem?
Its easy for politicians of any party to make grandiose statements blaming landlords as the baddies in this. My property is an asset, why on earth would I want to devalue it. And there is nothing here about the costs to me to go in and sort out the mould issues left by a bad tenant and the redecoration/ replacement of items so the property is safe and clean and mould free for the next tenant to move into. It seems politicians are hell bent on making private landlords seriously think if
their money would be better invested elsewhere – Holiday let/ Air BnB anyone???
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The politicians of all colours have made & are making the housing sector pretty toxic. There will be no improvement with whoever wins. Running a lettings agency I would say 95% of mould issues fall soley down to tenants life style and not the landlords. Again a prime example of a sad situation being used for political gain / grandstanding. I expect my phones to be ringing in 2025 with an increase of damp and mould problems that are a result of lifestyle rather than the property.
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Awaabs demise was utterly tragic and should never have happened in this day and age.
But “Law” should incorporate occupiers responsibilities in full for their own and dependants wellbeing, as well as practical shortfalls beyond common sensical and practical by any landlords, a few of whom should be banned from being landlords in any case. I’ve always refused to act for any non compliant landlords, or for landlords with non compliant properties unless or until they are brought up to standard and maintained as such.
I say this after 50 years in the profession, because I can honestly say in my experience that 98% of all mould concerns have resulted directly from occupiers – not always tenants – being unaware or not having been made aware or not understanding or not caring or oblivious of the effects of failing to ventilate and maintain their environment adequately – such as by keeping windows (and trickle vents where fitted) fully closed “to keep the heat in”, being in occupation all day every day (many litres of moisture naturally exhaled daily) without any external air, greatly aggravated by drying washing in a sealed environment without extraction or ventilation to outside, and switching off the bathroom extractor fan “to avoid wasting heat” etc..
Beyond ensuring the dwelling is fitted with basic insulation including cold water pipes and surfaces to best practical standards, the only way landlords can help is by enlightening occupiers of the causes of condensation which accelerate the incidence of mould, and ensuring that extractors are fitted in bathrooms and over cookers (where physically possible) and that they work. A simple improvement for bathrooms is installing a movement sensor in the bathroom instead of just the usual easily accessible isolation switch (which can be located elsewhere to avoid easy tampering). These and other items such as ensuring all opening windows and vents are capable of being opened and closed (and locked ajar where possible) are checked to ensure they are functioning as they should upon annual or biannual inspections.
Incidentally, all landlords and their agents should appreciate that “extractors”- meaning extracting humid/foul inside air to outside – do not include “recirculation” through charcoal and back into the room – in my experience many do not.
As presented, wannabe government mould policy appears to lay the entire blame for mould on landlords, which means that tenants will feel empowered to continue occupying their environment the way they wish to regardless of any consequences and that mould is the entire responsibility of the landlord, rather than take any notice of the above sample of basic self help options (“landlords excuses” – in real terms known as “solutions”), assisted where necessary by a suitable anti mould spray/bleach based cleaning fluid and some elbow grease upon the slightest evidence or earliest onset of any mould before it spreads as rapidly as it can, as a part of basic cleaning maintenance of a home environment such as vacuuming the floors and cleaning the windows and wiping surfaces clean and washing up.
If such one sided policies prevail, then let us not be surprised if more landlords sell up their rented accommodation and invest elsewhere.
The inevitable result will be a further shortage of homes available to rent when we need more, and consequential increases in rent – see Effects of Supply & Demand, page 1 economics text books, a phenomenon known to politicians and brushed off as “an unintended consequence” of their policies that reasonable and willing landlords do their best to jump through hoops to observe.
But there comes a limit to how high and what cost . . .
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