Awaab’s Law came into force on 27 October 2025, marking one of the most significant shifts in social housing regulation in a generation. For solicitors acting in housing disrepair claims, the legislation has introduced new obligations on landlords, and with them, a changing landscape for legal costs recovery.

At Greener Costs, we work with solicitors on both sides of housing disrepair litigation. As claims under Awaab’s Law begin to work their way through the courts, understanding the costs implications is increasingly important for anyone advising in this area.

The Background: Who Was Awaab Ishak?

Awaab Ishak was a two-year-old boy who died due to prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s social housing property in Rochdale. His death prompted widespread public and parliamentary scrutiny of housing conditions in the social rented sector and ultimately led to legislative change throughout the Social Housing Regulation Act.

The legislation bearing his name places obligations on registered providers of social housing to investigate and address dangerous conditions within defined timescales, obligations that carry real legal consequences where they are not met.

What the New Timescales Require

The Awaab’s Law requirements are built around prescribed response times. Where a tenant reports a significant hazard, the landlord must begin a formal investigation promptly, in many cases within 5 working days of the report, with a full investigation within 10 working days depending on the nature of the hazard.

Following that investigation, tenants must receive a written summary setting out what was found, whether hazards were identified, what remedial work is required, and the expected timeframe for completion.

Where emergency hazards are present, the timescales are more demanding still. If repairs cannot be completed immediately and the property poses a risk to the tenant’s health or safety, the landlord may be required to arrange suitable alternative accommodation, or ensure the tenant can stay with family or friends, while the work is carried out.

These are not aspirational targets. They are statutory obligations, and failure to comply with them has direct relevance to the strength of any subsequent disrepair claim.

Which Hazards Does Awaab’s Law Cover?

Although the legislation originated in response to damp and mould hazards, the scope of Awaab’s Law now extends across a broad range of serious risks identified under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), sometimes referred to as the domestic and safety rating system HHSRS.

The hazards now covered include:

• Damp and mould
• Excess cold and excess heat
• Electrical hazards
• Fire safety risks
• Structural collapse and explosions
• Unsafe sanitation
• Hazards affecting personal hygiene and food preparation
• Other significant Category 1 hazards

This expanded scope has practical implications for how housing disrepair claims are investigated and, ultimately, for the legal costs associated with them.

The Costs Recovery Picture

From a costs perspective, the most immediate effect of Awaab’s Law is likely to be felt in the complexity and scope of housing disrepair claims. Where previously many claims centred on a single issue, typically damp and mould, claims may now encompass several different hazard categories within the same property and the same set of proceedings.

That shift matters for costs recovery in several ways.

Greater complexity generally means more investigation time, more detailed schedules of works, longer inspections, and more extensive document review. Each of these elements can increase the value of a bill of costs – and each is a potential target for challenge by paying parties seeking to reduce what is recovered.

Where landlords have failed to comply with the statutory timescales for investigation or repair, that non-compliance can also become a central issue in the litigation. Demonstrating it – and the consequences for the tenant – requires evidence gathering that must be properly reflected in any bill of costs drawn at the conclusion of proceedings.

Expert Evidence and Recoverability

One of the more significant costs questions raised by Awaab’s Law is the recoverability of expert evidence across multiple disciplines.

In cases involving a single hazard, a single surveyor will often suffice. As claims expand to cover structural issues, electrical defects, fire safety concerns, and sanitation problems within the same property, solicitors may find themselves instructing a range of specialists, structural engineers, environmental health experts, fire safety consultants, and building pathologists among them.

Each instruction will need to be justified on assessment. Paying parties are likely to scrutinise whether multiple experts were genuinely necessary or whether a single, suitably qualified expert could have addressed all relevant issues. Having clear reasoning on file for each instruction – and reflecting it properly in the bill of costs – will be essential for protecting recovery.

Proportionality Remains Central

Housing disrepair claims have always attracted proportionality in the context of Awaab’s Law claims in any significant number. As that body of case law develops, the way in which costs budgets are framed, and bills are drawn in these cases is likely to evolve accordingly.

A Note on Compliance Records

One practical point worth noting for solicitors acting in this area: where landlords have failed to comply with Awaab’s Law requirements, the quality of their compliance records can significantly affect how a claim progresses.

Landlords are now expected to maintain detailed records of when complaints were received, when investigations commenced, what hazards were identified, and what steps were taken. Where those records are incomplete or absent, that absence itself may be relevant evidence – and obtaining it through disclosure is work that should be properly captured in the bill of costs.

How Greener Costs Can Help

At Greener Costs, we assist solicitors acting for both claimants and defendants in housing disrepair proceedings. Our team of qualified costs lawyers and costs draftsmen can help with:

• Preparing bills of costs in housing disrepair claims
• Costs budgeting and Precedent H drafting
• Points of dispute and replies
• Proportionality and recoverability advice
• Detailed assessment proceedings

As the courts begin to grapple with the costs consequences of Awaab’s Law claims, getting specialist costs input early can make a significant difference to what is ultimately recovered.

Get in touch with our team today.

📞 01204 263047

✉️ info@greenercosts.co.uk